As the metal doors to the slick metro train slid open with a hiss, Izuku found himself in a very different side of town than the one he had grown accustomed to. With one step, Izuku was transported into a land of perfectly painted houses, freshly washed streets, and metro stations that didn't reek. Before him, much to his own amazement, the clean white walls of the station lacked any sign of vandalism or staining. Fascinated, his emerald eyes dart around his environment, studying its perfection intimately.
Next to him, Kaminari observes his friend's excitement, chuckling to himself.
"Never been up here?" He asks, his curiosity piqued by Izuku's marvel at what Kaminari believed to be commonplace.
"I've never seen one of these so clean before! The stations I'm used to usually smell like gym socks and vinegar," Izuku enthusiastically answers, his body shaking with excitement.
"Man, you get excited about the littlest things!" Kaminari jokes, his comment provoking a bashful reaction from Izuku.
"O-oh, sorry… Should I stop?" Izuku asks Kaminari, his voice cracking from embarrassment.
Oh crap! I blew it!
"You joking or what? No need to apologize, man! Someone who's used to the stinkers probably would get excited in a setting like this. You should get a whiff of the station by Ochaco's house, I shit you not, first time Kirishima and I went, Kirishima almost hurled. Shoulda seen him! Always going off about manliness and there he was, his face turning green!" Kaminari laughs to himself, resting a hand momentarily on Izuku's shoulder. Imagining Kirishima's bold face and sharp features bloat into a sickly shade of green forces a chuckle out of Izuku.
With Kaminari's affirmation having patched up Izuku's lapses in confidence, the freckled teen relaxes a bit, turning his focus once again towards the world around them. Proceeding towards the escalator ahead, Izuku's head bustles with curiosity regarding Kaminari and his daily routine.
"You do this every day?" Izuku asks, his focus momentarily taken by a group of businessmen on the opposite escalator. As the men engage in hushed conversation, their spotless suits practically reflect the light around them.
Look at their outfits! Who knew suits could be so clean!
"Yep! The morning commute tends to be a little rough. Metro gets so crammed you can practically taste the strangers around you. Compared to that, the evenings are heavenly. Very few come up here after dark," Kaminari explains, his gaze darting between the peak of the elevator and the inquisitive Izuku.
"I can't imagine that… I've only ever been to public school. The metro I take goes in the opposite direction and with each stop, less and less people get on and more and more get off…" Izuku's statement trails off.
"Yeesh," Kaminari exclaims before biting his tongue, making sure not to poke too much fun at something his friend was clearly insecure about.
The atmosphere now filled by an awkward lull in the conversation, the two boys stand around momentarily.
Izuku shifts the bag on his back.
Kaminari scrunches his face.
Once they reach the top, the two continue forward, their footsteps ringing against the metal floor of the station.
Over the horizon, the looming silhouette of their goal: the esteemed U.A. High School. Situated in the center of a forested hill, the iconic H-shaped building looms over the town of Musufatu, a shining beacon for the citizens below.
Seeing this, Izuku's entire mood lightens out of the momentary lull, his eyes expanding into bright green twinkling stars. He had seen U.A. before…
In magazines, commercials, and on the news at least.
His mother and him never really had a reason to come up here in the first place, her job was far from the top of town and his school was further down the hill. This place was his dream, his greatest aspiration ever since he was a child, and here he was, about to enter its esteemed premises!
Illegally. But an entrance is still an entrance!
Jaw slung open, eyes wide, and shoulders rolled back, Izuku's entire figure has been overcome with amazement at the almost mythical silhouette before him. The duo still had some ways to go but even then, Izuku's own personal wish fulfillment overwhelmed his senses. It was euphoric.
"Come on kid, you haven't seen nothin' yet," Kaminari snickers, slapping the side of Izuku's pale arm with the back of his hand. Leading him forward, Kaminari once again takes the lead, leading him up the steady incline towards the top of the hill U.A. stood on.
"S-So, how do we get in?" Izuku asks, noticing the menacing fortress-style wall surrounding the campus.
"There's no way I can climb that!" Izuku exclaims, clearly underestimating his own abilities. Hearing this, Kaminari turns around, inspecting the area around him with wide, wary eyes.
"Hush! You're gonna blow this whole joint! Besides, you don't have to worry about a thing, I told you, I got it all figured out," Kaminari asserts, nodding at his friend in order to assuage his concerns. "We'll just keep going, up the hill, towards the front gate. The gate has a built-in genetic framework, only allows people it recognizes in," Kaminari continues. Seeing Izuku's mouth begin to open, ready to express one of his many concerns, he snaps right back into his explanation, just before his friend can ramble on.
"And with that framework, I called in a favor from a friend of mine. She's good at sneaking into places, practically invisible! So, I gave her a lil' baggy with one of your prickly green hairs and helped her sneak into the main offices. Bing, bang, boom: You're in the system," Kaminari confidently concludes, with plenty of hand motions to sell his own cleverness.
Hearing this, Izuku shuts right up, his many concerns swept to the side.
"You're lucky I got faith in you kid, I wouldn't go this out of the way for just anyone," Kaminari continues. "I knew you were somethin' different the day we met, you didn't act like anyone I woulda expected to be a childhood friend of Bakugo. To be honest, you kinda came off as a wimp," he admits, staring ahead as Izuku trails behind him.
"H-Hey!" Izuku stutters out in reply, unable to refute Kaminari but offended enough to comment.
"Under every normal circumstance, someone like you would just blend into the background, a passerby in someone else's grand story. But after I heard what happened to you, and personally saw what you could do afterwards, my whole perception of you changed. To think, you were so sad about someone you hadn't had a regular conversation with in years already demonstrated your... uniqueness. And now, with your hidden power, with limits we don't even know yet... There's just something strange about you Izuku," Kaminari analyzes, his body language uncomfortably rigid compared to his usual electric enthusiasm.
Izuku's gaze has turned towards the ground, unable to hold his focus on his friend.
"You're a difficult one to explain, Izuku. Anyways, we're here!" Kaminari exclaims, turning towards Izuku with a familiar smile across his face.
Before the duo, a great purple wall stands, with light fixtures across the floor pointing upwards, illuminating them from below. An archway stands in the center of the fortified wall with a thick titanium plate in place of where a door usually would be.
"Fortifications. In case of a villain attack," Izuku mutters, all too aware of the school's recent history. Kaminari solemnly nods.
Walking towards the door, the blonde teen lays a palm gently against the metal plating. Turning his head towards Izuku, he raises his eyebrows with confidence, telling him to "Look away for a second."
ZZZZZAAAAPPPP!
Averting his eyes, Izuku hears the ring of electricity against metal before looking up to see the subsiding pulses of golden flashes from Kaminari's hand. Letting out a brief huff, coupled with a bout of steam, Kaminari's hair momentarily stands on end before falling delicately across his head.
Wow.
Shifting in place, the thick metal slab slides harmlessly into the ground. Stepping forward, Kaminari enters the campus. A computer on the opposite side of the gate beeps with a pleasant chime before sounding off Kaminari's full name, recognizing him as one of U.A.'s many students.
Having crossed with no repercussion, Kaminari looks over his shoulder and beckons his friend with a wave of a hand.
Izuku's fists are tight and sweaty, clenched firmly around the tips of his cargo shorts. With a huff and a gulp, Izuku takes the step, boldly passing through the gate, his eyes furrowed and closed in preparation for something to go wrong.
He waits, preparing for his hair to stand on end as Arachno-Sensation kicks in. Standing in place, his sweaty fists grip his shorts with an even more constricting clasp.
Opening one eye, Izuku finds himself safely across the gates of U.A. The computer beeps again, now sounding off a name: IZUKU MIDORGA.
Izuku looks at Kaminari, confused.
"Why did it call me Midorga?"
Kaminari sighs, "I think Hagakure misread my handwriting."
Izuku chuckles and the two proceed into the premises of U.A. High School.
Now changed into proper work-out clothes, with Izuku in a baggy tangtop and shorts on his scrawny frame and Kaminari in his U.A. provided blue-and-white gym uniform, the two have snuck into the expansive Gym Gamma.
With its industrial interior and wide spaces, as well as its extremely tall ceiling, it was the perfect place to test the limits of Arachno-Sensation. Largely composed of cement, with dozens of tall windows along its perimeter, the "gym" was more of a warehouse than a proper training ground. Above them, a series of old fluorescent lights occasionally flicker, their quivering gleam the only light within the cold building.
Leaning against a concrete wall, Kaminari stretches out one of his legs as Izuku watches on awkwardly. Comparing the two would be apples to oranges: Izuku's meek demeanor and cheap, stained outfit he scrounged out of his closet contrasted heavily with Kaminari's booming confidence and well-pressed, intricately designed uniform. The duo came from two different worlds, one that rarely ever overlapped.
And now, here they were.
Izuku's excitement towards finally being on the grounds of U.A. had been replaced with a certain unease.
What if somebody found us? Wouldn't we get in trouble?
"Kaminari?" Izuku asks, investigating the wide expanses of this so-called gym.
This is not what I had in mind when Kaminari said we could train at U.A.
"Mhm," he murmurs out, preoccupied with his stretches.
"Why did we have to come here? Why couldn't we do this in any regular ol' warehouse?" Izuku asks, still standing in place.
Looking over his shoulder, Kaminari continues to stretch as he replies.
"Simple, the law. Say I bring you out to any ol' warehouse and someone finds us slingin' quirks out left and right. Both of us would get in big trouble, both for quirk use and trespassing," Kaminari replies.
"But don't we risk the same things here?" Izuku continues.
"Not necessarily. I know a few students who linger around after class, usually to train. If you're a student here, you're allowed to stay as long as you want," Kaminari responds, now leaning over himself to touch his toes.
"Then why was the gate locked?" Izuku prods, still confused as to how this is any better.
"Pretty simple as well, once you're in U.A., you're in U.A. By sunset they put the gate up to make sure there isn't any nasty surprises for tomorrow. Basically, once the gates up, there's no way in but you can always get out. And hey, if any of those lingering students happens upon the two of us, I can say you're a student from one of the lower divisions like Class C or D. Anybody questions it, technically your names on file, we just have to hope they don't approach a teacher about it," Kaminari finishes with a smirk, having thought this all out to a surprising degree.
Looking over his shoulder, Izuku asks one final question: "Is the gate going to go back up?"
Kaminari looks up, finally stumped by one of Izuku's questions, "Hm?"
"I mean, the gate. When you shocked it, it was stuck open. I-Is that supposed to happen?"
Kaminari smirks, "Oh, ha! Nah kid, don't worry! I just temporarily short circuited it, forcing the gate open and allowing the computer to recognize us. It'll close once my excess electricity passes through its circuit."
Izuku nods, his concerns washed away by Kaminari's astute awareness.
As much as he claims to be a ditz, his strategy is surprisingly sound!
"So, uh, what should we do first?" Izuku asks, gripping his left arm with his right. The white tangtop hangs loosely on his skinny body.
"Well, we'll work on all of that soon enough," Kaminari says, pointing to Izuku's body with a sneer, "but tonight, we need to figure out what you can do. Luckily, based on our interaction on Tuesday, we have an idea of what to test! And, with this concrete, your grip won't be tearing anything up… Hopefully."
As Kaminari speaks, Izuku inspects the palms of his hands and the spinnerets that poke out from his wrists, nodding once his friend finishes demonstrating his work-out plan.
"Here, come over here," Kaminari follows up his plan with, jogging over to the closest concrete wall. Izuku follows along, jogging towards the wall.
Next to the wall, Kaminari inspects it, knocking on its concrete supports in order to assert its strength. Behind him, Izuku watches on before his mind is once again consumed by another question.
"Kaminari," Izuku comments, prompting a response from his lanky friend.
"Yeah?" Kaminari responds, turning his golden eyes towards Izuku instead of the grey wall before them.
"How is this a gym?" Izuku asks, confused by the seeming waste of space that was Gym Gamma.
"Jeez kid, you're filled with questions today. It's a special gym, meant to train quirks. Usually Cementoss would be here and he'd manipulate the concrete to serve a function, help us practice. He ain't here, so right now, it's just a cement building," Kaminari explains, returning his attention towards the wall.
"Huh… Cementoss," Izuku mutters to himself, realizing just how many professionals really are attached to the legendary school. He always knew it was a big deal but to regularly encounter heroes like Cementoss? Even Eraserhead used to be a teacher here. Used to.
Wonder what happened to make him lose his job…
"Alright Izuku, I'm gonna have to cut you off before you ask another question. We came here for a reason other than conversation. Now, we start to train," Kaminari declares, clenching his hand into a fist.
Izuku gulps.
"And what does that mean?" Izuku asks, unsure of how Kaminari wants to start this all off.
"You did your stretches, right?"
"Y-Yeah…"
"Alright, I want you to start by climbing this wall!" Kaminari pronounces, pulling his clenched fist towards his body.
Looking upwards, Izuku scans the height of the wall.
Forty, maybe even fifty feet tall… Am I ready for this?
Izuku's legs tremble. He slowly leans down, crouching closer to the floor.
I barely even survived last night!
Reluctantly, he prepares himself, as if waiting for the gunshot at the start of a race. Izuku's fist clenches.
B-But…
His eyes burn as he stares intently at the wall. His fingers graze the cold floor.
I survived.
Kaminari watches him patiently, his eyes focused like a predator on its prey.
What did Eraserhead say?
Sweat drips down Izuku's brow. His hair stands on end.
"You act with the heart of a hero."
Izuku gulps down his anxieties.
With an explosive start, Izuku bounds from his position with surprising power. Kaminari's hair is blown back, startled by his friend speed.
Leaping through the air, Izuku reaches his arms out, aiming open palms at the incoming pillar. With a thud, his body strikes the pillar, his fingertips gripping the smooth surface with a tactile grasp.
O-Okay. I did it! I'm climbing the wall.
Looking down, Izuku is surprised to find that his friend is much lower than he thought.
D-Did I leap that far up?
With Kaminari at least ten feet below him, Izuku turns his focus towards the wall before him.
"Hell yeah, Izuku!" Kaminari exclaims, throwing his clenched fist into the air, his shrill voice echoing through the empty building.
Reaching out with an empty palm, Izuku tries his hand at climbing the pillar. Feeling the tips of his fingers clutch to the smooth surface, he pulls himself up with one arm. Pulling himself up, he reaches out with the other hand, creating a consistent crawl up the wall.
Firmly stuck to the wall, his feet skitter against the concrete, unable to clutch to the wall like his fingers. With his legs dangling below him uselessly, Izuku's balance is uneven, making each successful creep exceedingly difficult.
"Yo, Izuku! Your feet can grasp right? Ya gotta get your shoes off!" Kaminari recommends, cupping his mouth in order to yell.
"O-Okay," Izuku stutters out, amazed that he's still attached to the wall. Pulling one hand off of the wall, he reaches out and awkwardly rolls over, turning his back to the wall and his face towards Kaminari. With his hands firmly planted against the wall stitll, he looks down and finds Kaminari smiling at him from below.
"You're doing great!" His blonde friend calls out.
Responding with a awkward half-smile, with his focus being on his grip, Izuku nods. Looking down, he inspects his current elevation and his dangling legs.
About twenty feet up, his double-knotted shoes would prove difficult to remove.
Maybe I should just leap do-
"Hey! New workout idea! Try to untie your shoes from up there!" Kaminari calls out, flashing Izuku an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Oh. Okay.
Izuku nods, uncertain about what he just accepted.
Pulling his right hand off of the wall, Izuku pulls his right leg closer to his body, propping himself up with the sole of his shoe. Slowly guiding his hand towards the worn shoelaces of his tennis shoes, his fingers slip into the rabbit-ears of the knot.
Gently tugging on it, he struggles to dexterously move his fingers while also keeping his balance and grip on the wall. The first ear gives but the knot remains.
He bites his lip.
Kaminari watches him with a smile.
Tugging, pulling, and twisting, Izuku uses all his might to slowly undo the heavy-duty knot he had prepared himself with. Gently, he slips his right shoe off, sending it careening to the floor below.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Izuku plants both of his arms and now his right foot against the concrete pillar. Taking a second, he didn't realize how just this little act could be so tiring. Already his muscles are beginning to ache.
Oh well… Practice makes perfect.
"Come on! Don't stop there! You have on more to go!" Kaminari calls out, a benevolently ignorant coach.
Groaning, Izuku reached out, pulling his left hand off of the wall to now attempt removing his left shoe. As he leans forward, the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, sending shivers down his spine. His right hand comes undone from its grip, and looking down, finds that his right foot still has its sock on.
Suddenly, Izuku is falling.
Careening towards the ground, Izuku mindlessly stares at the incoming concrete floor. Impulsively, he whips a hand out, snapping a web towards the ceiling.
THWIP!
One second. Two seconds.
Moments before he collides with the quickly incoming ground, the web attaches to the ceiling. Yanking it, he pulls himself towards the ceiling, swinging past Kaminari like a pendulum.
Clanging against the ceiling, Izuku clutches the ceiling with his grip, now pulling off his sock and letting it fall to floor. His left shoe remains on.
Confused, Kaminari turns towards his friends' new position. Behind him, Kaminari hears something.
A door opening.
Footsteps.
Someone's approaching.
Turning towards the sound, Kaminari looks and finds a familiar face.
At the entrance of Gamma Gym, in a similar blue-and-white gym uniform as Kaminari's, a lithe figure stands.
Tall, lean, and toned, a boy of Kaminari's age looks at the blonde boy with two different eyes. Transitioning between red and white, his hair falls flatly against his head. Across the left side of his face, an expansive, red burn mark.
"Oh… Todoroki," Kaminari stammers.