A/N: So I was all excited for the quirk apprehension test. I spent a goodly amount of time crunching numbers and doing some research (I am a scientist, after all), and my conclusions were that the numbers we're given in canon for everyone's results at the various tasks, as well as the "5%" strength thing that Izuku gets in canon are all total bs and not reconcilable with science. Therefore I'm going to avoid quantitative results as much as possible and try to describe Izuku's test scores purely qualitatively in comparison to his classmates. Also, I realized that I had to include a little scene in the beginning to explain the whole "5%" concept to those who only follow the anime, sorry!

Also:

MAKE WAY FOR THE GAY! This story is going to strongly feature Katsuki/Izuku from this point onwards. That means that there will be romance between two boys. If this is something you don't want to read, consider yourself warned. No, I'm not going to waste space in the summary warning for slash, because I don't have room. This is your one and only warning, and I sincerely do not care if you're disappointed that you read the first chapter and "wasted your time" or whatever.

GAY

STUFF

AHEAD

Dagobah beach was pretty at night. Izuku felt a jolt of pride when he realized that it was only pretty because of him, because of what he'd done to make it that way. All in all, Izuku was walking on clouds. He'd gotten second place in Yuuei's entrance exams, and his mentor was the coolest hero to ever have lived! So maybe he wasn't paying as much attention to his surroundings as he should've.

"All Might!" he called out jubilantly.

"What? All Might? Where?"

Oh oops. It took a second to rectify his error, but then he and All Might could talk uninterrupted. "Midoriya, m'boy, I'm so proud of you! You did better than I ever could've imagined."

Well, that was it. His poor mother would have to pick out coffins for her only son because Izuku was dead. Completely dead. He'd somehow ascended straight to heaven without even realizing that he'd escaped his earthly chains, because there was no way this was real life. Izuku wasn't entirely convinced that he wasn't locked in an asylum, living out some crazy fantasy. He sniffled and wiped at his eyes, trying not to cry.

"Th-thanks All Might. I couldn't have done it without you." Izuku raised his watery gaze up, up, up to meet All Might's eyes. "Thank you! I- you… No one's ever believed in me like you did."

The man grinned down at him fondly, and clasped him by both shoulders. "Young Midoriya, all I did was give you the means to fulfill your potential. The hard work was all yours. You earned your spot at Yuuei. I wasn't involved in the scoring at all. Truthfully my boy, you were incredible. I never imagined that you'd be so natural at using One for All. You grasped its intricacies instantly."

"A-all Might. I just… did what felt right." Izuku still wasn't entirely convinced that this wasn't a dream.

The man chuckled and tousled his hair. "You've got excellent instincts, young Midoriya. That will take you far. Now the only challenge is training up your body to match."

"Yes, sir!" Izuku sobered and nodded with conviction. "The difference between the power I was using through most of the test and the full power I felt when I fought the zero-point bot… it was incredible."

All Might tapped at his lips thoughtfully. "Indeed. I was blown away that you could modulate its power at all, so soon after receiving my quirk. Still, the energy you were using in the beginning, do you feel like that was the most you can channel without harming yourself?"

Izuku felt his power thrumming just under the surface of his skin. It was hard to believe that all that force could be contained just by his body. "I was able to push my limits a little bit by using some energy to sort of cushion myself and reinforce my body, but I don't think that I could use any more power without breaking my bones and stuff."

All Might blinked, surprised. "Hm, what an excellent idea. Forget One for All, your real power is up here." He tapped Izuku on the forehead. Izuku blushed. "Still, I'd say that if what you used against the zero-point bot was one hundred percent of your strength, then what you were using stably was about… oh, five percent of that. Maybe you can eke out a few more percentage points with that trick of yours."

"And the only way to bring that up is to make my body stronger and stronger, right?"

"Got it in one! Over time, your body will be able to handle a greater proportion of your power. Also, your maximum strength will increase as well. Your one hundred percent is a long way off from my one hundred percent, after all. I thought that I'd have to spend most of our time teaching you control, but luckily we can focus all our energy on training your body. You'll see, young Midoriya. Soon, you'll look back and be amazed at how far you'd come."

"I-I'm already amazed, All Might. I promise that I'll work harder than ever!" Izuku knew that he still had a long way to go. Still… he could see it… Midoriya Izuku, number one hero!

To say that Izuku was excited for his first day at Yuuei would be a major understatement. He was practically vibrating, but he tried to keep himself contained.

"Can you believe it? We're going to be taught by a real pro hero! I wonder who it'll be? It would be so cool if it were Present Mic, don't you think. Oh, I heard that Midnight teaches there too. If she were our homeroom teacher I don't think that I could ever answer a question. I'd be way too embarrassed."

"I'm way too embarrassed to be seen out in public with you right now, Deku."

"Ah sorry, Kacchan!"

The two of them were on the commuter train that would stop close to Yuuei. He and Kacchan had resumed their tradition of walking to and from school together, now that their friendship was mostly repaired. Although they were talking to each other and hanging out again, they were still trying to figure out exactly how they fit together.

Case in point: Izuku had been so busy musing about their first day that he didn't realize that they'd come to a stop. It wasn't their destination but Izuku was blocking the exit.

"Ugh," complained Kacchan, before he grabbed Izuku's upper arm and pulled him until they were flush, shoulder to shoulder. Kacchan's hand lingered for a second before dropping and brushing against Izuku's thigh. It was completely normal for even complete strangers to have to squish together on the train during rush hour, but Kacchan still blushed slightly.

"Sorry," Izuku called towards the passengers that he'd been blocking.

"Stop yelling in my ear, Deku," grumbled Kacchan.

"Oh, sorry," Izuku whispered.

"And stop apologizing so much. You'll never be a pro hero if you can't grow some guts."

Kacchan leaned against him a little bit though, almost as if to take the sting out of his words.

"Ah, sor- I mean, right!"

Kacchan had never been physically demonstrative with him, or anyone really. Recently, however Izuku noticed that they Kacchan touched him more often. He'd knock shoulders with Izuku, or nudge him with his elbow, or like just now, grab him and move him rather than just tell Izuku to move. It was definitely odd but also kind of nice, so Izuku made sure not to comment on it. Kacchan was easily embarrassed (even if he rarely showed it) and would probably stop if he knew Izuku had noticed.

Izuku continued chattering until they got into Yuuei's main building. Despite his cool façade, Izuku could tell that Kacchan was anxious for their first day too (although probably not as much as him). He assumed that he was a pleasant distraction rather than an annoyance, because Kacchan wouldn't hesitate to say so. When they reached the nosy reporters blocking their path, Kacchan just yelled at them and burst straight through, but he grabbed Izuku and pulled him in his wake. Izuku grinned. Kacchan probably wanted him around, then, since he could've used the crowd to ditch him if he felt like it.

When they got into room 1A Kacchan immediately made a bee line for an open desk in the middle of the room. Izuku, however, was waylaid by the really intense guy from his examination group.

"Hello!" the taller boy said, really… uh, intensely. "I am Iida Tenya from Soumei Middle School!"

"Eheh," chuckled Izuku nervously. He unconsciously shuffled backwards a bit. "U-uh. I'm Midoriya Izuku."

"Midoriya Izuku!" cried Iida.

"Y-yes?"

"I must hand it to you. You intuited the true nature of the practical examination." Iida turned away slightly, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist. Izuku inched backwards, but Iida shifted closer. "Meanwhile, I had no idea. I completely misjudged you. Midoriya! I must apologize for speaking to you so disrespectfully when Present Mic was explaining the rules! Clearly you were uncovering the true challenge while I allowed myself to be distracted! Please-"

"Will you shut up?" grunted Kacchan. Izuku had backed up so far that he'd hit Kacchan's desk. "You're giving me a headache."

Iida gasped. "How can you speak to a fellow classmate so rudely? And get your feet off your desk!"

Seeing his opportunity to escape, Izuku cautiously sidestepped the taller boy and crept backwards. Izuku met Kacchan's eyes and mouthed 'thank you'. Kacchan just scoffed and turned his head to the side, clearly ignoring both Izuku and Iida. After that, he met the girl from the practical exam, whose name he still didn't know considering that they were interrupted by their, uh, rough looking sensei.

The man, Aizawa, must be a pro, but Izuku had no clue who he was. Considering Izuku's obsession with heroes, that said something. Either this guy was really, really good at being sneaky, or so bad that Izuku'd never heard of him. The latter was virtually impossible, because Izuku knew everyone in the hero circuit. He'd give his teacher the benefit of the doubt. Plus, he had a feeling that Aizawa was the real deal, and he'd learned to trust his instincts.

Before Izuku could get his bearings, Mr. Aizawa was herding them into their PE uniforms and out onto the field. Apparently they were going to have a quirk assessment test, with a lot of exercises they did in middle school- except this time they could use their quirks to boost their scores. The teacher had Kacchan demonstrate, and Izuku goggled at how far his friend was able to blast the softball.

"Whoa! That's amazing Kacchan! Good work," gushed Izuku.

"Hmph. That was nothing, Deku. Next time I'll get 800 meters," grumped Kacchan, but he looked pleased at the praise.

"Oh," Mr. Aizawa added nonchalantly. "And whoever places last overall will be expelled."

The students stared at him. "You're joking, right?" one brave redheaded boy asked.

Mr. Aizawa just smiled at them humorlessly. "This isn't a game. You're all training to be heroes. It's a cutthroat profession, with a very real chance of being hurt or killed. No one will go easy on you in the real world, so don't expect me to go easy on you here." The teacher met Izuku's eyes. "Besides, Yuuei had a reputation to maintain. We accept the best, but we only graduate the best of the best. We've got no interest in putting out inferior heroes just because you were lucky enough to make it past a few robots."

Their teacher stared at them silently—long enough for that statement to sink in—before starting them on the fifty meter dash. Izuku was impressed by the creativity his classmates displayed using their quirks. Kacchan blasted himself like a missile, of course, but one boy propelled himself with a laser in his navel, and a girl somehow pulled a rocket-powered bicycle out of her body and smoked her partner.

Izuku took the opportunity to marvel at the scene. He'd never seen so many incredible quirks used openly like this. He was practically in Nirvana. He was a bit anxious at the prospect of being expelled, but his quirk was ideal for physical tests like these. Indeed, when his turn came, Izuku handily beat his partner, a girl who strongly resembled a frog.

"Wow!" she cheered. "Your quirk I'd awesome! Ribbit. I'm pretty sure Iida's the only one who was faster than you, and speed's kind of his thing, you know."

Izuku chuckled sheepishly. "Ah, no, the girl with the creation quirk was faster than both of us, actually."

His partner grinned. "Still, you should have no problem on these tests. I'm Asui Tsuyu by the way, but call me Tsuyu."

"Oh!" Izuku couldn't help but smile as well. "I'm, uh, Midoriya Izuku! Nice to me you Asui."

"Tsuyu," she corrected firmly.

"Right, sorry Tsuyu."

"Quit dawdling," called Aizawa. "Didn't I say that you all aren't here to make friends?"

"Sorry sensei," the two of them replied.

Still, Tsuyu winked and whispered to him: "Good luck Midoriya. Do your best!"

"A-Ah! You too, Tsuyu." Izuku marveled at Tsuyu's kindness. They were technically competing against each other but she showed no signs of it. He was pretty sure that he just made a new friend.

Next they tested grip strength. Izuku thought for sure that he'd have an advantage on this one, but a guy with six arms and someone who had a sugar-based stockpiling quirk beat him outright. The girl with the creation quirk made some sort of mechanical clamp. Izuku kind of thought that was cheating but Mr. Aizawa allowed it without question. Needless to say she got first place in that exercise.

Izuku grew increasingly disquieted as that pattern repeated itself. He always did well, consistently placing in the top five, with the exception of the standing long jump. There were tons of people in the class who could rocket themselves through the air, or glide, or turn themselves weightless, or leap like a frog, etcetera. A few other students had things that they excelled at, something that truly distinguished them. Iida did amazingly on the 50 meter dash. Kacchan and the pink-haired girl impressed in the softball throw. Izuku managed a respectable 400 meters in that event, but considering Kacchan's 700 plus meter throw, it was nothing to write home about. Even though he doubted that he'd end up near the bottom, Izuku still wished that he could do something really special.

He was somewhat mollified by his showing during the sit-ups event. His strength-to-weight ratio was by far the greatest in the class, and Izuku had access to a virtually unlimited energy source. It wasn't too complicated to tweak his ability a little bit, sacrificing peak strength in favor of endurance. Izuku continued doing sit-ups long after everyone else had finished, until Mr. Aizawa got bored.

"Alright, alright. You win this one, Midoriya. I'll just mark you down as infinity and move on. Jeez."

For someone who'd threatened to expel a student based on their exam marks, Mr. Aizawa didn't seem to actually care that much about their results. He acted like the whole charade was just one big inconvenience to him. Nevertheless, that was one event at least that Izuku excelled at. The endurance run went similarly. That girl with the creation quirk beat him, but only because she remade the motorized bike that won her the 50 meter dash. Izuku understood that it was a quirk assessment test, but surely it wasn't fair for one student to have a motor scooter while everyone else had to run! The tests ended with the sitting toe touch, where Izuku embarrassed himself by placing dead last in the class. His training had optimized physical strength, often at the expense of flexibility. Plus, there was a student who could actually grow longer limbs. He couldn't compete with that.

At the conclusion of the events, class 1A gathered anxiously around Mr. Aizawa, who posted the results without fanfare:

Yaoyorozu Momo

Todoroki Shouto

Bakugo Katsuki

Iida Tenya

Tokoyami Fumikage

Shoji Mezo

Midoriya Izuku

Ojiro Mashirao

Kirishima Eijiro

Ashido Mina

Uraraka Ochaco

Koda Koji

Sato Rikudo

Asui Tsuyu

Aoyoma Yuga

Sero Hanta

Kaminari Denki

Kyoka Jiro

Hagakure Tooru

Mineta Minoru

"Hmm." Mr. Aizawa "Well that's it. We're done for the day. Pick up a syllabus from the classroom and read it over before tomorrow morning." He glanced over at a boy who had strange, purple balls on his head instead of hair. "Mineta, don't bother coming back tomorrow. You can talk to Administration about transferring to the General Studies course. Or not. I don't really care. Feel free to keep the uniform though; I doubt it'd fit anyone else."

"Wh-what?" asked Mineta, his voice breaking. "Th-that's a joke, right?"

"Nope," replied Mr. Aizawa, not even turning around. "You got last place. You're expelled, just like I said in the beginning."

Mineta looked too stunned to protest, not that it would've mattered. Mr. Aizawa strolled out of the clearing before anyone could respond anyway. There was an awkward silence among the students, before Mineta started sniffling, and then ran off behind a building. His crying was audible. Most of Izuku's other classmates did as they were told and retreated back to the classroom (including Kacchan). They didn't actually know Mineta after all, and had no obligation to try to comfort him. Still, Izuku couldn't just leave knowing his fellow- uh, former classmate was in such a position. Iida, Tsuyu, and the pink-haired girl seemed to have a similar thought process. The four of them cautiously approached Mineta.

"Uh, are you alright?" Izuku asked.

"What Mr. Aizawa did was too cruel!" cried Iida. "There's more to being a hero than just physical fitness tests."

"Please leave me alone." Mineta sniffled. "I don't-I don't want to talk about it."

Izuku and Iida exchanged glances. Well, it'd be rude to linger now, even if he felt awful for the other boy. The pink-haired girl was undeterred.

"I'm Uraraka Ochaco, sorry we didn't get a chance to talk earlier. It's just… you shouldn't give up! You never know what might happen."

Mineta gave her a watery glare. "No. It's over. My dream is toast. It was stupid to think that I could become a hero anyways."

Tsuyu just sat down silently next to Mineta, wrapping her arms around her knees. After a moment, she said: "You know, ribbit, Yuuei allows students from the General Studies course to transfer into the Heroics course after the annual Sports Festival. It's open to General Studies students, so they can compete and try to impress the teachers. If you do well, you can show Mr. Aizawa what a mistake it was to look down on you. Your dream doesn't have to end here, not if you don't want it to."

Mineta's mouth fell open. "You mean-? I… I need to think. Th-thanks for, uh, you know. But, can you just… give me a little bit?"

"Yeah sure," Tsuyu replied before the rest of them could respond. "I'll just hang out over there for a little bit in case you change your mind." She gestured to a tree around the corner. "You guys should go ahead and get going," she said to Iida, Uraraka, and Izuku.

He had to admit that he felt somewhat relieved to be given an out. Iida and Uraraka seemed to feel the same way, because neither of them protested. It was a somewhat solemn walk back to the classroom, but it was hard to keep up the negative attitude once they'd gotten their things and started heading home. After all, none of them actually knew Mineta, not really, and all three of them had placed really well in the rankings. It was hard not to be at least a little excited about the day's proceedings.

"I guess I never really introduced myself, huh. My name is Uraraka Ochaco. You're Iida Tenya, and you're Midoriya Deku, right?"

Izuku blinked at her, surprised. "Where'd you hear that?"

Uraraka stared back guilelessly. "Isn't that what the exploding boy called you?"

He chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh. Me and Kacchan have known each other since we were kids. That's just his nickname for me. My name's actually Izuku."

"So it's an insult!" cried Iida.

"N-no! Um. Well, Kacchan's pretty good at making anything he says sound like an insult, so I see where you'd get that impression." Plus, it actually had started as an insult, during a phase when Kacchan had been really mad at him. But then they made up and Kacchan punched a kid in the grade above them who called him 'Deku' snidely. "But Kacchan doesn't even bother learning most people's actual names. I was the only person growing up whom he had a real nickname for, rather than just some weird description like 'curly hair boy' or 'hey you'."

"I like it!" declared Uraraka brightly. "It kind of gives off a 'you can do it' vibe."

"O-oh," Izuku blushed. "Um. You can call me Deku, if you want."

Before Uraraka could respond, they'd reached the train station, and found Kacchan leaning against the wall next to the door.

"Fucking finally," he sighed gustily. "Took you long enough, Deku. Why're you wasting time with these extras?"

"E-extras!?" Iida sputtered indignantly.

Izuku felt his face morph into a horrified expression. "K-Kacchan! Don't be so rude. Iida and Uraraka are really nice!"

"Tch. Whatever." Kacchan grabbed Izuku's wrist and dragged him off in the direction of their train home. Izuku craned his head around and waved at his new friends. "Bye Iida! Bye Uraraka! Sorry about Kacchan. I'm sure he didn't mean it!" Actually, he was sure that Kacchan did mean it, but sometimes a white lie was superior to the truth. "See you tomorrow!"

"Bye Deku!" Uraraka called back.

"She calls you Deku?" muttered Kacchan once they were out of earshot. He honest-to-god pouted, although he'd probably claim it was a scowl.

Izuku managed to repress his laugh, but couldn't stop his eyes from rolling upwards. "Well, maybe if you didn't call me that before anyone even knew my real name, it wouldn't have stuck."

"Whatever."

Kacchan tugged on his wrist a bit, making him stumble. Izuku grinned. That meant that he couldn't think of an adequate verbal response. One point to Deku.

"If any of them call me fucking Kacchan, though, I'll fucking kill them."

Izuku chuckled sheepishly, but he felt warmed by the fact that Kacchan hadn't ever had a problem with Izuku using that nickname. "Uh, don't worry Kacchan. I'm pretty sure that no one would be so familiar with you." He was pretty sure their classmates would be too intimidated by Kacchan's prickly exterior to call him such a casual nickname. Izuku grinned and leaned his shoulder against Kacchan's, since that was apparently something they did now.

"Today was pretty exciting, don't you think? It was amazing seeing everybody's quirks! I'm kind of intimidated by Mr. Aizawa, though. I can't believe that he expelled a student on the first day!"

Kacchan rolled his eyes. "What're you worried about? You scored in the top half of the class." Izuku blushed and grinned down at his shoes. Kacchan had must've looked for his ranking, since his own spot was higher. If he'd just been scanning the board from the top down for his own name, he would've stopped before seeing Izuku's ranking.

They boarded their train, and stood together by the doors. Izuku held onto the pole in the middle, and Kacchan grabbed the handled of Izuku's backpack, resting the rest of his arm on the bag. Izuku beamed at him. This was probably the closest Kacchan had ever been to slinging an arm around him. The blonde scowled and looked to the side, but he didn't move away at all. Only Kacchan could make a smile look pleased.

"Hey Kacchan?" said Izuku shyly. The other boy didn't respond, but he glanced over so Izuku knew he was listening. "Thanks."

"For what?" Kacchan asked gruffly.

"Um. For being my friend."

Kacchan huffed, and tugged on his backpack so that Izuku's shoulder was pressed to the other boy's chest. "Whatever, Deku. You're alright," Kacchan said, as if he weren't basically hugging him. Izuku grinned and stared down at where his hand was gripping the support pole, so that he wasn't tempted to comment on the hint of red dusting Kacchan's cheeks. Their first day had been exciting, for all the stress and drama. Izuku couldn't wait to see what the rest of the school year would bring.

A/N: Bakugo's got a cruuuuuush. Neither of us can handle how ridiculously cute Izuku his. Plus, he's definitely noticed how Izuku's been working out recently.

So I split Izuku's rankings as follows: 50 Meter dash: 3rd; Hand grip: 4th; Long jump: 12th; Ball throw: 6th; Situps: 1st (the manga has "sustained sideways jumps" instead of situps, but the anime clearly shows them doing situps); Endurance run: 1st; Upper body: 4th; Toe touch: 20th. When I averaged those numbers, I got 6.375, so I just stuck him in seventh place and called it a day. If you're curious why I chose those particular numbers in each field, feel free to ask. Otherwise, the order is exactly as presented in canon. I ended up having to kick Mineta out because it's strongly implied that Aizawa had every intention of actually expelling the bottom ranking student unless they impressed him (like Izuku did). The line in the anime is a bit odd, so I like the translation I found from the manga: "It's not a cruelty to end the half-ass chasing of a dream." Let's be real, Mineta's reason for being a hero ("heroes get chicks") at this point in canon is as half-assed as they get. There's no way that Aizawa doesn't expel him. He actually has a pretty useful quirk, but personally I'm not crying too much about his departure. Besides, now you all know that I won't hesitate to deviate from canon if I feel like it haha.

Also, on the topic of nicknames, can we pause for a moment and talk about how freaking cute it is that Izuku calls Katsuki "Kacchan"? It's presumably short for Katsuki-chan, and if I know my Japanese culture, it's a really, really babyish was of saying someone's name. It shows how innocent Izuku is that he still calls Katsuki that, and also shows Katsuki's soft side for not exploding every time Izuku said it. (For the closest English equivalent, imagine that Katsuki's name was "Alexander", and Izuku spent years unironically calling him "Little Allie" without getting his head blown off.)