"Hey Izuku." Uraraka's voice brings him out of his thoughts.
Turning his head towards her, he responds. "Yeah?"
She looks him in the eyes. "Why do you want to become a hero?"
He immediately stiffens at this. Uraraka must see this because she begins to backtrack. "N-not that you have to tell me or anything! I was just wondering since you know our reasons and-"
"No no! It's fine!" Izuku interrupts. He quickly thinks of something to say. They look at him expectantly and he gulps. "I-it's nothing special, like you guys. I've just always wanted to be a hero, you know? Just saving people with a smile."
It's a lie. Wasn't when he was three years old, but that was thirteen years ago. A lot has changed since then.
He briefly wonders how much more he will have to lie to his friends for people he hates.
Iida loudly announces his approval. "That is a fine motivation! To want to save people is very heroic!"
Uraraka nods. "Yeah! That's like, heroing 101! Helping others."
A smile stretches across his face as they enter the cafeteria. A voice suddenly calls out to them. "Hey! Uraraka! Izuku!" They turn to see Mina waving happily at them, most of the girls from their class behind her. Oh, and Shouji and the tail guy too. Iida frowns.
Uraraka waves back and Izuku gives a small wave as well. "Hey guys!" Uraraka greets, "What's up?"
"Wanna sit with us? We've got plenty of seats." She motions towards a long table.
Uraraka glances back at them and Izuku nods along side Iida. She turns back to Mina with a smile, "Sure! That would be great!"
She starts to walk towards the table but Mina grabs her by the arm and drags her towards the lunch line. "Come on! You've gotta get food first!" Asui joins them.
Izuku looks back to Iida in confusion while they start walking as well. "When have Uraraka and Mina started hanging out?"
Iida adjusts his glasses. "I believe you were in the infirmary when it happened, but they started talking to each other when they got into a debate over your quirk. Tsu got involved as well."
His face scrunches up even more. His quirk? "What do you mean? How did they get into an argument over my quirk?" He tries to ignore the stinging from those words.
His friend looks up in thought. "Well, I do believe they were arguing over whether or not your paper creatures were sentient. It really is a good question. Are they?"
Oh ok. We're going there. "S-somewhat." He says. They stop in the lunch line. The three girls are right in front of them, talking away. "They are sentient enough to be capable of understanding instructions and can worry when I'm in trouble. They can also help me even when I don't ask them to. But they can't do much else on their own." Besides keeping me company, he thinks sadly. He stares at his feet while trying not to let the tears escape. It may sound a little dumb, but he considered some of them to almost be friends. God he misses them.
Iida nods once more, completely oblivious to his distress. "Ah, okay. You should tell them. They'd be happy to finally know that."
Izuku is momentarily confused, but then realizes he's talking about the girls. "R-right." He says, looking away.
They reach the end of the lunch line and get their food before heading back to the table. The others already have their food, some of them waiting while others are eating. Mina, Uraraka, and Asui sit down across from where the tail guy and Hagakure are chatting. Shouji is sitting next to them, but not really talking, and Momo is sitting near the end of the table.
His eyes glance around at the table and he shifts nervously from foot to foot, not really sure as to where he should sit. Thankfully Uraraka looks back from her conversation to Izuku and pats the area next to her. He relaxes slightly in relief and takes the seat. Unfortunately there's not quite enough room for Iida to sit down too, so he takes the seat on the other side. It's right to Momo.
She smiles at Iida as he sits down next to her and greets him. He returns it and Momo is looking at him. "Hello Midoriya."
"Hi, M-Momo." He says, a little hesitant in using her first name even though she gave them permission. Her smile just grows wider.
Izuku glances around once more, taking in who's there. "Where Kirishima?"
"I think him, Sero and Kaminari are off bothering Bakugou. I honestly have to wonder why they even try."
Izuku's eyebrows furrow. "So Sero's joined them too?"
Momo nods solemnly.
A beeping noise draws their attention and Izuku notices for the first the kettle looking thing sitting on the table in front of her. There's steam coming out of the top. She presses a button and looks at him. "I've made some tea, do you want some?"
Izuku smiles at her and shakes his head, "N-no. You made that for yourself. I would feel bad if I took it."
"Nonsense. I made plenty, and it's for everyone, not just me."
Well, Izuku can't argue with that, so he agrees. She pulls tea cups out of her bag(he wonders how they didn't break), and starts pouring tea into them. Everyone at the table ends up with a cup of tea.
Izuku takes a sip and he nearly drops his cup in surprise. He... didn't expect for tea to taste so good.(No, he's never had tea before. It's a luxury and luxuries are waaay out of his budget) He looks up at Momo, who's enjoying her own cup, and says, "Thank you."
She glances at him and raises her eyebrow. She must see something in his expression because she asks, "Have you never had tea before?"
He shakes his head, eyes wide. "It's amazing." He whispers.
Momo smiles brightly at him. "Your welcome, then. I'll make you more tea sometime."
Guilt immediately crush's him. "Oh! You don't have to. I don't want you to feel like you have to."
She just shakes her head. "I would love to. Tea is one of my passions, and I love sharing and talking about the many different kinds with others."
The guilt rises and he nods slowly. "Then, yeah. I would like that."
Momo visibly gets excited "Great! I can bring some tomorrow too. I'll bring a different kind and we as we go we can see which ones are your favorite. I can't wait for you to try out my favorites." She calms down after moment, regaining her usual composure. "Sorry, I tend to get a little it's exited when it comes to tea."
Iida suddenly speaks up. "Tea can also be very good for you. Especially herbal teas. They can lower blood pressure and doesn't have nearly as much caffeine as coffee."
Momo nods and soon enough they're in a deep conversation about the benefits of drinking tea. Izuku just takes another sip of his tea before digging into his lunch. He hasn't eaten for a while so he's absolutely starving. He's been hungrier before, of course, but the food here is absolutely delicious and he finds himself plowing through his food.
The rest of lunch is pretty boring, and he keeps to himself for the most part. Everyone around him seem to already be in conversations and he doesn't want to butt in.
After lunch they go back to their classes and he gets through them better than before. He manages to pay attention and take notes. Iida seems to notice as well and praises him between classes.
Even though the classes feel longer, the end of the day arrives before he knows it. They all gather their things and leave. Er, well, try to leave, that is. As soon as Uraraka opens the door they are stopped by a crowd of students. Izuku can only guess they're from the other classes.
Uraraka steps back. "Why the heck are you all here?!"
Iida's hand chops the air. "Do you students have some sort of business with our class?"
"Why are you blocking out doorway? I won't let you hold us hostage!" Izuku winces. Mineta.
"They're scouting out the competition, idiot. We're the class that survived real villains." Bakugou walks straight up to them. "At least now you know what a future pro looks like, now move it extras."
Uraraka and him just splutter and stare at the blonde while Iida angrily chops at the air. "You can't just go around calling people extras just because you don't know who they are!"
"So this is class 1-a." Someone pushes forward through the crowd. "I heard you guys are impressive. You just sound like an ass. Is everyone in the hero course delusional, or just you?" A purple-haired students steps out. He looks like he hasn't slept in days.
"I wanted to be in the hero course, but like many others here I was forced to choose a different track. Such is life. I didn't cut it the first time around, but I have another chance." Bakugou stares at him, unimpressed. "If any of us do well in the sports festival the teachers can decide to transfer us to the hero course. And they'll have to transfer people out to make room." Everyone stiffens at that, the tension rising.
His eyes roam over them. "Scouting the competition, maybe some of my peers are, but I'm here to tell you that if you don't do your best I'll steal your spot right from under you. Consider this a declaration of war."
Where did this guy even come from?
Bakugou and the purple-haired guy just stare at each other.
Suddenly a silver-haired students starts yelling at them. "You! I'm from class 1-b next door to you! I heard you fought some villains and I've come to see if that's true! But you're just a bunch of brats who think you're better than us!"
Bakugou just walks into the crowd, unfazed.
"Hey! Don't ignore me!"
Kirishima calls out to Bakugou. "Dude, where are you going?! Say something! It's your fault they're all hating on us Bakugou."
Surprisingly enough, Bakugou stops and looks back. "These people don't matter."
"Huh?"
"The only thing that's important is that I beat them." And with that he leaves.
"Hey! I'm coming for you!"
They all ignore the silver-haired dude and turn to themselves. Kirishima closes his eyes and clenches his fist in frustration. "Gr, I hate that that was such a manly exit."
"You said it."
"You have to bait them," Tokoyami says, "he wasn't wrong."
Kaminari looks at them. "Yeah, but this sucks." Izuku silently agrees with that. "He made us everyone's enemy."
"Yeah, that's right!" Mineta yells. "Students will be gunning for us in the festival."
Izuku hates the fact that he's not wrong.
The students crowding the doorway begin to disperse and their class is finally free to leave. Uraraka and Iida try to pull him with them but he stops them. "You guys can leave if you want, but I promised Todoroki I'd talk to him after school." They look surprised but leave him alone. They tell him they'll wait for him at the front door and leave.
Once everyone leaves, he takes a deep breath and turns to where Todoroki is waiting.
"So, what do you want to talk about?"