2: How gravity brought them together.

Izuku had always yearned for adventure. The son of a servant, his younger days were spent scrubbing the floors of the Lord's mansion and carrying laundry as he stared out the windows, wondering what lay beyond the rolling hills. So when he came of age at ten, he took the choice to move out the servant house and into the village proper, living in the loft of an old couple whose daughter worked at the mansion.

For the next five years he broke out of his nervous shell, earning his way by doing odd jobs for everyone in the village. In the end, everyone owed him a favour - not like he'd ask for them to be repaid - and he'd been given the title of the most reliable person in the village. The only awkward part was the daughters who were being pushed his way. He was flattered, but he wanted to see the world before he settled down. And he was terrible at romance, his first kiss being stopped by the bumping of foreheads. They both were too embarrassed to try again.

Then the guards came, asking for men to join the service. Izuku leapt at the chance.

Everyone was sad to see him go, especially his mother, who he hugged and promised to write.

The city was everything he hoped it to be, if a little smelly. There were more people in one street than he had ever seen in his whole life! And the noise was constant, a collective murmur coming from everyone's conversations mixed with the yelling of traders, the striking of anvils and the clinks of moving plate armour.

By the time he got to the barracks he was overwhelmed. What followed were three days of rigorous testing, to see if they had the physicality to join the guard. Izuku had little trouble with them, only finding he couldn't lift as much weight as others. His stamina, apparently, was superb, as he was one of the few who dropped at the end of the tests.

He succeeded, and spent another month training in the art of the halberd, sword and shield. He took to them quickly, considering he'd never held a weapon before, and whilst he was neither the fastest, the largest, or the strongest, he was the most precise and his eyes found even the smallest of openings. It was his skill that alienated him from the rest of the recruits.

But he did find one friend in Eijirou Kaminari. He was sitting on his bunk, fiddling with something in his hands and cursing. Izuku cautiously approached. "Excuse me… do you need some help?"

He looked up, long brown hair getting caught in his eye. "Ah, shit! Not to you, man, just this damn hair." He held out his hand, a metal clip lying in his palm. "I usually fasten it back with this, but it got caught in training today."

Izuku picked it up and inspected it. The spring had been bent, so it wouldn't close properly. The hinge was rusty too. Probably a memento of some sort.

His fingers set to work, deftly brushing off the flakes of rust and straightening out the spring. A couple of tests and he confirmed it fixed, nodding to himself and passing it back to an amazed Eijirou.

"You some kind of craftsman?" he asked, putting his hair into a ponytail.

"More like a handyman. I did a bit of everything back home."

"That's pretty cool. What are you doing here then?"

They talked all night until light's out. From then on they were partners, going on patrol for three months before another three month night shift on the walls. When their probation period finished, they were given an assignment: guards at the mage college.

That was when his life changed forever.

They were standing beneath the Tower on either side of the main gate. He felt they were a little redundant; they were mages, the most powerful people in the land, and the gateway they were guarding was a massive invisible barrier that blasted back any who didn't have a pass. Still, they were 'a sign of good faith' from the Kingdom to the Mage Order.

He was looking up the Tower when something knocked into him. He stumbled and hurried to catch his halberd before it fell. Eijirou laughed. Izuku regained his senses and looked down. Cute.

She was a little shorter than him, with a round face with rosy red cheeks. Her hair and eyes were a chocolate brown, with a little bit of green in her iris. He noticed he could only see so much detail because she was pressed against his front. She noticed too, and her face went red as she backed away.

She snapped her head around, before scooping up her pointed hat from the floor. When it was on, she pulled the brim over her face. "S-sorry! I'm just really late and I wasn't looking where I was going and I'm so sorry!"

He backed up and raised a hand. "It's fine, really! I wasn't looking either!" Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say to a person he was supposed to be guarding.

She didn't seem to hear him as she shuffled past, still hiding behind her hat. "Really really sorry, but I have to go! Sorry!" She ran off through the Great Hall, turning to the right and disappearing around the corner.

"She's gone, lover boy." Lover boy?! He turned to Eijiro, who was laughing at his reddened face. "You couldn't take your eyes off her! And that sigh! You were like a maiden in love!"

Izuku huffed and looked away, straightening out his helmet and adjusting the straps. "Oh don't be like that! It was funny! Besides, you might get to see her again anyway."

Annoyingly enough, Izuku was interested, and when he looked at Eijirou's smirking face, a pass held between his fingers, Izuku cursed and took it.

Ochako Uraraka

15

Dormitory 5, Room 34

Magic: Gravity.

Ochako Uraraka. His heart leapt at her name.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I've decided to make this a series of oneshots that I'll write whenever the fancy strikes me. That being said, they will not be in strict chronological order. Updates will be infrequent too.

Regardless, let me know what you think!