My Iron Giant

-Exposure-

Flashing lights kept making Ochaco squint to keep her eyes intact. Looking over to the Principal sitting on her right, she wondered how on earth he managed to keep his eyes open the whole time. To her left was Snipe, Thirteen, and her parents thank goodness. They all sat on a small makeshift stage next to the school bathed in the morning sun. An army of the press stood/sat in the folding chairs along the grass that numbered a few hundred. Some curious students that moved in were wandering around in the distance watching with curiosity and other teachers surrounded the immediate area to make sure nothing happened.

Well nothing illegal really. Midoriya in his metal glory stood right behind the stage and was hovering his eyes over the crowd. This must have been the first time he was exposed to so many people around Ochaco and was probably doing something sciency or techy to double check everyone wasn't a threat to her.

She fiddled with the nice skirt she wore, a gift from Thirteen who aided Ochaco in getting ready to face the press. Her parents were wearing probably the only good looking clothes they owned. She never even remembered a time where her dad wore a tie. After waiting what felt like an eternity filled with stage fright Principal Nezu got up from his chair and approached the podium. A small ladder was built into it, allowing his small body to climb up and address the crowd. She would be giggling at the sight if she got over the fact that she would be speaking after him.

Everything was silent besides the occasional click of a camera as Nezu spoke to them all.

"Hello everyone, I am Principal Nezu of UA High. In recent events it has come to our attention that a particular individual has gotten the attention of the public eye. While we normally wouldn't dare to expose an individual's private affairs-" He paused, allowing the press to feel his miniscule wrath for their disrespect. Some shifted uncomfortably while others steeled themselves for the story.

"-It is our decision to quickly answer any questions in an effort to not only allow our students to swiftly return to their own lives but to stop any negative rumors that would build from silence. Unfortunately, the person in question is unable to speak to you today."

A few brave souls stood up and tried to find fault in his statement before he could finish.

"We can clearly see that the boy is here, are you keeping him silent in order to hide further intents with him?"

"Is he being held here against his will?"

"Why do you insist he remain silent?"

Nezu waited until there was silence again before speaking. "There are many mysteries pertaining to Izuku Midroya, but we assure you that if he was able to speak he would be asked to talk to you now. Instead, we have asked someone closest to him to help you understand his situation. I present Ochaco Uraraka, first year student of the heroics course."

The press roared for answers, why a student was speaking, who she was, and many others asking about their relationship and what UA was planning. Nezu ignored them all and climbed down his little ladder and walked back to his seat. Ochaco took in a deep breath and tried not to crush the flash cards in her hands. Rising stiffly, she walked to the podium and focused on the single task of not tripping as she walked. Success! She made it, oh boy that was a lot of people.

Being the center of attention made it so much worse. The air felt thick, and the eyes of everyone felt like she was a cornered animal. She wondered if Nezu felt the same, or if he even felt like an animal or a human more. What was everyone being quiet for?! Oh right, she was at the microphone. The cards in her hand were shaking along with her own. Nervously she tried to bring them up without too many noticing-

They danced in the air and fell to the ground like leaves. She had gripped them too hard, and as a result they launched away from her. This was it, this was the worst case scenario. And she was alone to fight against hundreds of eyes, millions more watching behind those cameras.

"Pst!"

She looked back, her parents were smiling so kindly at her, giving her a thumbs up. That's right, she wasn't alone, and glancing back to the glowing eyes of Midoriya she remembered she wasn't doing this for herself, she was doing it for him. Somehow that made it feel a little easier. Taking one last calming breath taught to her by Snipe, she faced the army in front of her with new resolve.

"H-hi."

It wasn't her best but it would do.

"My name is Ochaco Uraraka. I came to UA to take the entrance exam about a week ago and met Izuku Midoriya. He was shy, and didn't speak much, but he seemed nice. Later when the entrance exam was almost over, I got stuck and needed help. That's when I met him a second time that day. He changed before my eyes and became what you see today. Using his new body he saved me, but that's where things got..complicated."

"Miss Uraraka, what do you mean complicated?"

"Are UA tests too dangerous to be involved in?"

"Has Midoriya hurt you or anyone in anyway?"

Before she could think of a response to any question another one shot out at her. Each one either building off another or completely different and sparked a thousand more from the crowd.

"Uh, wait, please hold on-"

*BANG*

Snipe had shot a blank round towards the air silencing the crowd instantly. With a small twirl he holstered the revolver and walked up to the microphone.

"You'd get answers if y'all would stay quiet and listen to the missy." He said harshly, earning a small thank you from Ochaco. Snipe then went back to his seat and motioned for Uraraka to continue. WIth a nod back to the hero she continued.

She explained a nice summary of the case of Midoriya, making sure to get bigger questions out of the way before they could try to ask them. How he currently responds, why he can't go outside UA, why he hasn't changed back, and how they've been able to contact him during her sleeping. Whenever she talked of Midoriya, it felt easier, all of the focus being put away from her and on the spectacle before them.

But, when she had to talk about her own involvement she stuttered a few times. Every time it happened she felt her face heat up from embarrassment, causing more stuttering. It was a cycle of torment until finally someone dared to speak up.

"Miss Uraraka, is this the main reason behind why UA has rapidly built a dormitory system to house students?"

She was warned against answering any questions from the press and to focus on saying what she needed and cueing All Might to bound in. But, there was another piece of advice that if there were a few that she felt she could answer with a nice yes or no then that would help put the press at ease. Showing UA didn't just hand her a script to say to them.

Another thought came across her mind, she wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not, but maybe she could make good out of this. Her parents had been working hard to get the dorms done for the school, but once that was over then what? Their small company wasn't super well known, and she could fix that right here.

"I know they talked about maybe doing dorms in the future, but yeah, they hired my parents to build the dorm buildings. After all they're the best around." She saw some of them scribble down notes while others turned cameras to her parents and took some pictures. Did she do good? Did she screw up? What was supposed to happen in these kinds of situations?!

Another person gained enough courage seeing one of the questions answered and tried their luck.

"Have you been asking Midoriya to aid in your parent's workload? If so did he consent or is he being paid for his labor?"

That...was a good idea. He could easily pick up support beams and heavy air conditioning units given his precision. Maybe she should pitch the idea to her parents..would it be bad if he didn't get paid? Realizing she didn't respond Ochaco cobbled together a quick answer.

"No, we haven't asked him to help out like that." Answering too many questions got the crowd riled again, much to her displeasure.

"Then what do you have him do?"

"How easily could he revolutionize the support industry?"

"Is he capable of accessing our home computers from the school?"

"What are your plans with utilizing his unique quirk?"

"Will he be asked to participate in the military?"

She looked back to Nezu, who gave her a small nod. Ochaco had finished her part in this, now it was time to bring in the big guns. Tapping the podium three times, she got the attention she wanted/hated as silence fell back over the press.

Ochaco recalled the words she was told previously to hand over the vultures and spoke. "Before going further, UA wants to make another announcement. They will be getting a new teacher this year that will be over the heroics course."

"I AM-" The booming voice came from above, a large figure descending from behind the giant's head. The crowd started going nuts recognizing the voice.

"-HERE!" All Might announced landing heroically next to Ochaco dressed in his hero costume.

"Holy CRAP!"

"All Might! Are you taking up a teaching position in response to the largest gigantification quirk recorded?"

"Will you personally be overseeing Midoriya and Uraraka's progress?"

"What's your deodorant brand?!"

Ochaco moved away from the podium, letting the number one hero receive all of the attention. It was ridiculous how loud all of the reporters became but it made sense with All Might showing up. Taking her seat, she witnessed All Might expertly handle the mass amounts of questions and divert their attention to himself instead of her and Midoriya.

Principal Nezu tapped her leg earning her attention. He then spoke in a simple whisper for only her to hear. "Good job out there, but please stick to the flashcards next time."

Her eyes nearly popped out her skull. NEXT TIME?!

"Got any sevens?"

"Go fish"

"Son of a brachiosaurus! I swear you're lying to me." Tokage cursed as she drew another card to her large collection in hand. She was huddle in a circle with Manga, Tenya, and Kendo around the table in the living room. The tv was on as the news continued to circulate the news about All Might teaching at UA.

Tenya glanced back to the door, it was getting later and Uraraka still had not shown up yet. The press had ended a while ago, what was taking her so long?

"Oi, Ida? You have any twos?" Manga asked, grabbing his attention.

He snapped back to his cards, realizing he wasn't paying attention to the game again. "Sorry, I do not have any. Go fish."

"Argh." Manga voiced as he picked a card up, only to slap it down along with the rest of his cards. "And that's game!"

"Wait! You can't pair once you've drawn!" Setsuna heatedly sat up noticing the move.

"Well what else could I have done? No one else would have had them?" Manga asked back.

Kendo hummed. "True, it wouldn't really matter."

"There, I win." Manga folded his arms in triumph.

Setsuna slapped one of her hands on the table, accidentally removing it from her arm. She then waved the stump in Manga's face. "Hold on, we keep playing until we got all of the pairs taken care of, then count them up to see who has the most points."

"If we were playing like that I would have used a different strategy! Don't you know how to play go fish?!"

"Do yoU?!"

"Hey, quiet down I'm trying to watch All Might's interview!" Testutetsu said from the couch.

"Haven't you already watched that at least three times already?" Shiozaki asked next to him.

"Yeah, but he's such a manly guy. And he's going to be our teacher! We got to be ready for our first day tomorrow!" Tetsutetsu said getting super pumped, throwing an arm in the air.

As many others were getting more and more noisy Kendo noticed how Ida's gaze lingered on the door. Nudging him, she tried to talk about it. "You ok?"

Snapping out of his stupor he resumed his normal behavior and swung his arm with his words. "I am perfectly well! Was there anything in my behavior that suggested otherwise?"

"Well, you keep looking at the door, almost ignoring everyone here. You haven't even reacted to Tokage using her quirk to swipe your cards every now and then."

"She what?"

Said girl shot out her foot and kicked Kendo in the back of the head. "You said you weren't going to tell him!"

"I said I didn't want to get involved, there's a difference."

*boom* *boom*

"Oh, they're coming back." Manga noted aloud. The distant booms grew louder and louder until they halted near the outside window. Everyone glanced to see the giant pair of metal feet outside the dorms, a moment later the front door opened revealing a very tired Uraraka dragging her feet.

"Hey everyone." She weakly called out to the others.

"Uraraka! I hope your endeavors proved successful." Ida called out getting up to talk to her. She smiled at his approach and plopped herself down on the kitchen stool.

"Hi Ida, yeah, it went well. But I had to talk to the Principal, and my parents, about being a representative for the UA students to the social world. It was...long."

The blue haired boy smiled as he opened the fridge. He liked it when she was near, Tensei was right about her. Ochaco was a wonderful person, despite barely starting highschool she was asked to do so much with such a large burden. He glanced at the presence of the giant, the largest burden one could ever have.

Grabbing a tub of leftovers he brought them before the girl. "I cooked this earlier when you were gone. If you want something else I'd be happy to help."

"Thanks, this is fine though. I don't know what I'd do without you Ida." She remarked, already digging into her meal. Ochaco hummed with content at the flavor despite it not being heated up.

"Of course, it's my pleasure."

"Hey Ida!" Tokage called out. "I thought the school warned us about 'hitting' on Uraraka?" She then pointed her thumb to the giant outside.

Ida gasped at the thought, hitting Uraraka? "I would never seek to harm a dear friend of mine!"

"That's not what I..ugh..nevermind, there's no point if she's asleep."

"What?" He turned to see Ochaco laying on the counter with little bits of rice around her mouth. Tokage sent two arms to grab Ochaco and lift her gently. "I'll get her to her room Romeo."

Tetsutetsu sighed and got off the couch. "I'll go let Mirio know he can go speak to Midoriya."

Ida thought about following the girls, but dismissed the idea about entering a girl's room without permission. It's one of the top things that his brother taught him after all. But, those comments that Tokage made, he clearly was missing something from them. He'd have to call his brother to figure it out.

During the night, in the dark hours before anyone would awaken, the giant sat motionless in the dark with his eyes closed. Ochaco was asleep, the window to her roof allowing the moonlight to highlight her frame.

[Proximity Alarm Activated]

[Beginning Wake Up Sequence]

Midoriya's eyes opened their metal panels, letting the soft glow illuminate what was ahead of him. Turning his head he looked to the direction of Ochaco. A small figure was present on the roof next to her room.

"Eep!" Komori jumped when she was spotted. She was wearing a large jacket with the hoodie over her head. In her arms was various pots with plants inside of them, specifically mushrooms.

Komori internally hoped she wasn't doing anything wrong being up here this late. The moon was just perfect for her little shrooms right now and she wanted them to soak it up. But, the giant did nothing, just observed her as she was the only other person awake.

It was scary, being the center of attention of the giant. He rarely looked at anything other than Uraraka. And here he was watching her, but staying absolutely still.

"P-parden me." She apologized. She probably disturbed his sleeping, stupid Komori. But he didn't say anything, or even looked offended, just watched her.

"D-do you mind, if I..put my m-mushrooms up here?" Komori asked holding them up to let him see. The giant glanced down to see them, the eyes enveloping the plants in green light that did nothing to disturb them. He then looked back to the girl, doing nothing to stop her.

It may have been stupid of her to ask, knowing he can't respond. But then he blinked, wasn't that whenever he said yes to Uraraka? "Th-thank you."

Komori went off to the little rooftop garden that she and Shiozaki had been working on. There was still plenty of space for others to use for different things, the garden only taking up a fifth of total space. While Shiozaki had planned many different flowers for the space and a few vegetables, there was a separate section just for her shrooms.

Carefully she brought each one out and placed them in their designated pits. If she was alone she hummed to herself, but Midoriya was there watching her still. Why was he watching her still? He only did that for Uraraka, or those movies she saw them watching.

Maybe...he also liked mushrooms? Looking back up sure enough Midoriya watched her plant them, his eyes no brighter than the full moon itself. They were pleasant to look at.

"D-do you like them?" She asked, not expecting an answer. Komori didn't know if it was humoring him or herself but she decided to share her strange hobby with someone else for once. It's not like Midoriya was capable of making fun of her like everyone else. Oh no what if he could?! No, the only things he showed to dislike was unnecessary violence.

Grabbing the next pot she brought it up to show him. "T-this is Entoloma hochstetteri. You can't find it in Japan but I can make it with my quirk. Because it's so rare it isn't known for being poisonous or anything like that, it's only known quality is being sky blue."

Midoriya simply looked at it, then back at her. Did he like it? "Do you want to see more?"

Komori felt her nervousness go away, he didn't judge her like the others, or make fun of her, he listened. Feeling happy to share her passion with someone for a change she got excited and grabbed another one. "This is Trametes versicolor, or turkey's tail. It's the only one of it's kind to be named after a part of a bird instead of a whole. I don't think of birds though when I see it, because the first time I found this was when my class had a field trip with a little store that had cool rocks in it. So, whenever I see a picture of a geode I think of this one!" She finished with a smile.

How long had it been since she could be so open with someone? Everyone was usually so brave and passionate that it became overwhelming super fast. Now though, someone was sitting with her to let her be passionate herself. So, for the next thirty minutes she showed off every mushroom she had to him, telling Midoriya stories about each one whether from a textbook or personal.

Over half an hour passed before Komori started to feel tired again. Normally she would feel worried about leaving her mushrooms without protection, but Midoriya was here. The silent protector of UA, or Uraraka really, but he'd protect what was important to her! He likes mushrooms!

Now she just has to get some sleep for...tomorrow.

As if he heard her thoughts Midoriya tilted his head to the side in a confused manner. "Sorry, just, I'm super nervous about tomorrow. It's going to be our first day of school after all. Sometimes I wonder, will I be good enough? Hardly anyone seems to like my quirk, and my parents tried to steer me towards trying to have a career with mushrooms."

Komori held her arm, stroking it up and down to try and give herself a degree of self comfort. "I want to help people, but everyone else seems like they belong here, like they were made to do it. I don't even know how I managed to get in."

Komori met Mirdorya's eyes, how could she be like him? He seemed like he would be a great hero, one of the best once he manages to get his quirk under control. She wished she was like him, wait, didn't Uraraka say that Midoriya discovered his quirk IN the exam? Does that mean he thought he was quirkless all this time?! How could she compare herself to him, he had nothing but gave everything, he only found out he could do this because he went there.

"You tired, that's how you did it. You didn't know what you could do until you did your best." She smiled looking up at Midoriya, a new friend. The moon behind him was higher than she remembered. A yawn managed to escape her mouth as she was reminded of the fact that it was really late.

"Thanks for listening, I'll see you tomorrow night ok?" She waved to him, before stopping to see an open spot in her shroom pit. Looking back to the specific color of his eyes she used her quirk to make a new mushroom for him.

With a wave of her hand a green luminescent shroom sprouted to life. "Here, it's called Mycena chlorophos. Your eyes reminded me of it so..here you go. Goodnight."

Komori went through the door to the roof, letting Midoriya sit there and examine the new mushroom. Unbeknownst to her it was the first gift he had received from a friend in a very, very long time. With everyone asleep, and with Ochaco safe and sound, Midoriya closed his eyes and returned to his slumber.

A big day was awaiting everyone, the first day of hero school.

Lately I haven't felt super invested, so I don't know how good this chapter is compared to the rest. I've still got plenty of ideas on how everything will turn out for the main story but I feel like I need more ideas about interactions between some of the students. While I know Komori's little talk with Midoriya isn't big it was one that was on my mind for a while so I decided to write it in.

If I can't seem to get out of my weird funk and y'all still want more I can continue to write, but we might end up going through the story much faster.

IF YOU HAVE DECENT ART SKILLS REACH OUT OVER PM I WANT TO GIVE THIS BABY A COVER.

Any suggestions, ideas, comments are extremely appreciated. Thanks for the support, sorry if this came out later than y'all expected it to.

Saramus92:

Thanks! I do like the art that you've done and I'm definitely going to put the design in the story.

El Espectador:

Sure I can do that, guess I forgot to put in the character. Sorry.

adisIt:

We're not going to get too much Bakugo in this story. Maybe one or two chapters will feature him leading up to the sports festival. If anyone has ideas about Bakugo's growth or decline I'd be happy to hear it.

Zabkiel:

I think she handled it decently, luckily she had help beside her for it. In either the next chapter or the one after we'll get to see a little bit of how Shigaraki feels about the big ol' robot.

Well, who would dare try to remove the cables to find out? Either Nana and Izuku will figure it out or someone else will. Hopefully it turns out for the best.

We haven't touched on if Izuku actually sleeps or not, or even needs it. I think right now as long as he isn't showing signs of being tired they won't worry about it.

I wanted to give a comparison for how bad Izuku could potentially become and how people could be afraid of his power. So, now we just have to figure out if it even is a possibility for Izuku to go full ultron. I don't like the facial design in age of ultron besides the messed up iron legion suit he possess. Overall, why would he seek to make a moving face? Doesn't make sense other than for the audience to naturally make out what Ultron is feeling.

ZeroExia:

I'll have to check that out.

Hurtturnip:

He was misguided all his life, so it would take a lot to get him on the right track.

Wolves567:

True, but they would also have to get through All Might and now that the world knows about him everyone is watching them. If anyone tried to take or use them everyone would know about it.

Muhammad Ibrahim Faisal:

We're going to explore that in the second chapter. Not all the students moved into the dorms after all, so now that we have the full class we'll see what they can do to help.

Random65:

While it takes the appearance of one, does it work like one? Can he detach himself without consequence? We'll find out.

Saramus92:

With all the ideas I've been suggested I think for simplicity's sake I won't do anything like animals or separate to make smaller robots. Easier for me and everyone reading to know his limitations. Thanks again for the awesome art!

Animeguy1101:

I'd be happy to talk about the idea with you over pm. I'm not super serious about it so I wouldn't plan on spending a ton of time building up to the UA moments. Just a different direction so to speak with Izuku having no super powers but still have a few tricks he learned the omnitrix can do.

I don't think Izuku has ever or will ever have a 'normal' life. But he might get a little closer over time. Like if others besides Mirio could enter his head space they can chat and talk with him, but he can't go bowling or eating out etc.