After the festival, there were a few days off school. Izuku didn't really have any recovery he needed to deal with, so it was more time off. He spent most of it training and texting with his friends. Including Todoroki now, which Izuku was psyched about. He just needed to figure out how to get Shinso into his friend group too. But that was a problem for next week when they were back at school. He'd probably leverage his role as class rep if he had to force the issue.

The weekend did pass quickly, and before long he was back in his classroom at UA. The entire class was there, the bell had rung, but there was no sign of Aizawa-sensei. None of the students were brave enough to talk at more than a whisper to their neighbors, and Izuku was glad to doodle in his notebook.

After about 10 minutes, Kaminari bravely (and stupidly) said, "So, do we get to leave if Aizawa-sensei doesn't show up after fifteen minutes? That's how it works on TV right?"

Izuku didn't respond, knowing he'd sit in his seat all day if need be, waiting for Aizawa, unless told otherwise. Not worth thinking about anything else. This was proven to be wise on the class's part when the door burst open and sensei walked in.

"No, Kaminari. That is not the way this works. You're here until I dismiss you."

Wide-eyed, Kaminari said, "Yes, sir!"

Aizawa grunted. "We have a new student in class today." Aizawa-sensei stepped to the side.

"Shinso!" Izuku said with a grin.

Aizawa rolled his eyes. "Yes, thank you, Midoriya. This is Shinso Hitoshi. Winner of the Sports Festival. Shinso, introduce yourself and your quirk."

Midnight popped her head in and said, "Oh, come now, Aizawa. Let him say something interesting about himself too! Don't be such a stick in the mud."

Aizawa sighed. "Fine, and say something interesting about yourself." Then he shut the door, rather hard, and Midnight yelped as she jumped back.

"Um okay. I'm Shinso Hitoshi. My quirk is Brainwashing. Um, something interesting." His eyes landed on Izuku, who smiled back. "My favorite hero is Eraserhead."

Izuku was cackling immediately, and much of the rest of the class joined him. Shinso, the poor guy, looked confused and a little hurt.

"Um, well, I'll be in your care?"

Izuku pulled himself together. "Sorry, Shinso, you'll laugh too someday." Shinso looked at Aizawa, who seemed almost embarrassed, especially at the sound of Midnight's howls from the hallway. "I'm the class rep, so let me know if you need anything. We're going to be great friends!"

"I'm not here to make friends."

Izuku just smiled at him and Todoroki scoffed. "That's what I said before the sports festival and now he texts me all the time and I think I have to eat lunch with him."

"You do. And Shinso too, it's my duty as class rep. Don't worry, it'll be fun." Izuku gave a wide smile.

"Right, this is a great day so far. Go sit behind Midoriya, Shinso."

Shinso did, and Izuku cheered that they were seat buddies now. Shinso did not respond and Izuku pouted a little.

"Right, so let's never mention this again. Now we will have a special hero informatics. Depending on how you did at the sports festival, you will have different amounts of internship offers. I would advise you to think long and hard about whom you intend to intern with, students have graduated wishing they picked someone different for their first internship. If you need help, don't bother me, I'll be sleeping. I suggest you ask your class rep. Midoriya, you know a fair bit about heroes, right?"

"Um, yes sensei!"

"Great, here are the totals." He pressed a button and the totals came up on the screen. He started to pass out different-sized stacks of paper to each student. "They are not usually as spread out as this." Izuku looked at the list, and he was at the top with 5,291. Todoroki was next with 3,556. Shinso was next with 1,298. Kacchan had a decent 244, though he did not seem happy. A few classmates had triple digits, but most had less than 100 offers, with several having none. "If you didn't get any offers, there are several agencies UA works with that will still take you. Your list has those agencies on it."

Izuku looked at his list and saw many different names. He'd ask later if he could get a copy of his file digitally so he could sort, classify, and rank his choices. Though some did jump out at him, Hawks would be interesting. The number three hero was pretty good. He was fast and could fly and Izuku did want to work on his floating ability.

"Right, so next you'll be coming up with your—"

"HERO NAMES!" Midnight shouted as she marched in.

"You were supposed to wait for me to introduce you."

"But my entrance was so much more dramatic this way."

"Right, whatever. Midnight is here because I am terrible at this kind of thing. Be careful what you pick. You could be stuck with it for a long time."

And with that, the class got to work. There were some terrible ideas, "I Can't Stop Twinkling" and some adorable ones, "Froppy."

Izuku was torn. Most of his hero names from when he was a kid were like All Might, Jr. and Small Might. But they seemed like they might be a little too close to the truth, with One For All… Izuku thought back to the sports festival and how Uraraka had started to call him Deku almost exclusively. He hated that name growing up, but when Uraraka said it, it sounded different. Maybe he could transform it, so it meant more than it had.

When it was his turn, he stood up and said, "My hero name is something I have been called for most of my life. An old friend gave it to me because the kanji looks similar to my first name, and the meaning evolved." He flashed his whiteboard with Deku written on it and there was a mixed reaction from the class. Kacchan was scowling, Uraraka gave him a thumbs up.

"Are you certain, Midoriya? Do you really want people to be calling you useless?"

"I am going to be the Deku who can do it. Who can do anything! It may mean useless, but the meaning has changed for me, and through my actions, I will change it for everyone."

"Well, who am I to stand in the way of such youthful vigor and passion. Approved!"

"So why was everyone laughing at my favorite hero in class today?" Shinso asked. It was lunch now and true to his promise/threat, Izuku and his friends were sitting with Shinso. He tried to avoid them, but Izuku moved his posse to where the purple-haired boy was sitting alone.

There was a brief moment of silence that Tsu broke. "You mean you're not aware?"

Izuku lost his fight with his laughter. "He told me his favorite hero at the sports festival and I felt it would be better not to ruin this. I'm so glad I didn't."

Shinso was glaring at Izuku. "Not very class rep-like behavior, Midoriya."

"Aww, come on, you'll laugh too once we tell you."

"Then tell me!" Shinso demanded.

"Uh, well, you see," Uraraka started.

Tsu and her bluntness to the rescue. "Aizawa-sensei is Eraserhead."

Izuku could see the exact moment that Shinso's brain stopped working. After a moment of silence he said, "Well, I can see why you all thought it was funny." There was a laugh at the table.

"Will sensei hate me now? I said he was my favorite hero but didn't even recognize him."

"What?" Izuku asked. "Of course not! Sensei only hates people who deserve it, and you certainly don't. Yet at least. And it's like a double compliment for an underground hero… He's your favorite, but you don't recognize him, so he's doing his job well!"

A small smile graced Todoroki's lips. "Plus, he still seems to like Midoriya, for some reason."

"Hey!" Izuku said and was promptly ignored.

"That's actually a good point. Thank you for that, Todoroki."

"Aizawa-sensei loves me!"

"That's why he calls you problem child?" Todoroki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes! It's a term of endearment!" No one reacted to that comment, and the conversation moved on.

"You know, you could have told me, Midoriya," Shinso said.

"Sure, but you're the one who brainwashed me after saying Endeavor, of all people, deserved to be the number one hero."

"Everyone knows you love All Might! Even I knew you love All Might and I met you that day! It was only logical!" Shinso said.

"Maybe it was, and I forgive you, of course. Especially after your introduction to the class."

"Why am I considering being your friend again, Midoriya?"

"You act like it's a choice," Todoroki said.

"Todoroki's right. Anyway, where are you thinking going for your internships?"

After Izuku went through all his internship options and created a database with the electronic files, he was leaning towards Hawks. Not because he was the highest-ranking hero on his list, but because of all the ways his skills could improve with the hero's help.

All Might wanted to talk to him so before school the next morning he met his mentor at Dagobah Beach. Izuku was a little early and saw that a bit of trash had been left at the recently cleaned beach, just litter. No fridges or cars this time. After he picked it up and walked over to the nearby dumpster, he saw All Might and waved.

"Hello, young Midoriya. Thank you for meeting with me, I have some history of One for All to discuss with you."

"Oh good. I have a question about it too!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, so when Shinso had me under his quirk in the sports festival, I saw a bunch of figures in the dark. Like 8 of them."

"Ah yes, that."

"Oh good, so it's normal?"

"Yes, those are what we call the vestiges. A little left behind of the previous welders of One For All. I saw them once myself."

"That makes sense. One of them spoke to me."

"They spoke!?" All Might said sounding interested.

"Yes, it said they could break me out of if it, but I thought Shinso deserved the win, so they didn't."

"Ah, that's good to know."

"It turned into a woman, she was floating a little and said to say hi to Toshi and that she was proud of the hero he had become. She called me kiddo too. Didn't say who she was though, or who Toshi was, but I assumed she wasn't talking about Shinso."

All Might looked close to tears. "She said that? And she was floating?"

"Um, yes?"

All Might took a moment to compose himself. "That sounds like my master, Nana Shimura. She died very early in my training, but she made a massive impact on my development. I've worked my whole career to live up to the faith she put in me by giving me One For All." All Might paused. "Thank you for passing the message on, my boy. It means more than I can say."

"Of course! I don't know how she could be anything but proud of you. You've been a fantastic hero, All Might!"

He laughed. "Thank you, my boy." The emotions were thick in their conversations. "I need to tell you more of the history of One For All…"

All Might told him about One For All being passed down and All For One's part in creating the quirk Izuku now wielded. All Might thought he defeated his old enemy, but the Nomu having several sets of DNA had him thinking that might not be the case.

"I'm sorry for putting this on you, my boy. I thought I defeated All For One, but it seems he might have escaped. I will do everything in my power to make sure you never have to fight this evil, but I do think you'd give him a good walloping if you did fight."

"Wow, that's a lot, All Might." Izuku paused. "I don't regret One For All, though. Or getting to know you."

"My boy," All Might's eyes were watery, and before long so were Izuku's. Izuku had always been a sympathetic crier. Yeah, he'd go with that one. They hugged for a little bit and then All Might said, "Well, we should get to UA. Have you given any thought to who you will intern with?"

Izuku told his mentor that he was leaning towards Hawks so he could work on his flying. All Might agreed it was a wise idea. "I don't know Hawks well. We've only worked together a few times, but he's very fast and powerful. Plus he's one of the younger Pros, he could tell you about his experiences as a high-ranked hero so young! I think it's a good fit. I had thought of sending you to my old teacher, Gran Torino, but your grasp of One For All is almost perfect. I'm sure you could learn something from him, but perhaps next time!"

"I didn't see an offer from him, but I'll keep him in mind for the future.

Izuku was shocked to hear that Ingenium, Iida's brother, was attacked by the Hero Killer Stain. He was recovering in the hospital in Hosu and that was the reason Iida had been so quiet since the Sports Festival. Izuku wondered why he didn't say anything, part of having friends was for compassionate support, right?

Entering the room, Uraraka and Izuku walked over to Iida and Izuku said, "Iida, we just heard about your brother. Please let us know if we can do anything to help or support you."

Iida smiled at them, but it wasn't a real smile, it didn't reach his eyes. Izuku could tell it was fake. "Thank you, I appreciate that. Have you settled on where you will be having your internships?"

"I'm going to Hawks!" Izuku said with a grin.

"Gunhead for me."

"Oh, that's a good idea, Uraraka. He's a fighter and will help you develop a style and good habits which should make you more well-rounded."

"Yeah!"

"Very interesting choices for you both. I'll be interning with Manuel."

"Oh, he's a good one but not who I expected you to pick. Why him?"

"Ah, well his agency is near the hospital where my brother is, so I can easily visit during downtime."

"That makes sense. Seems like we've got some good choices."

Their conversation was interrupted when Aizawa-sensei walked into the room and everyone scrambled for their desks.

"That was a little slower than normal today."

The door flung open and a winded Kaminari walked in breathing a sigh of relief. Then he saw Aizawa-sensei was already in the room and swallowed. "Um, hi sensei. The bell didn't ring yet, right?"

As he said that, the bell rang. Aizawa-sense didn't take his eyes off Kaminari as the blond slowly moved towards his seat.

"As I was saying, you were all a little slower than normal today getting to your seats." Their teacher's eyes lingered on Kaminari for longer than the rest of them, and he sank in his chair a bit. Trying to get away from Aizawa-sensei's scrutiny. Izuku supposed he'd need to talk to the other boy about being a bit more punctual in the future. A class rep's work was never done.

Class was pretty normal for the most part and the day was normal. In the lunch line, Todoroki said, "Midoriya, did you say you were interning with Hawks?"

"Yeah, he sent me an offer and I thought it would be a good learning experience."

"He also sent me an offer, but I think I will go with Endeavor." Izuku must not have done a very good job of hiding his reaction because the other boy's lips quirked. "I understand your reaction, but I need to work on my fire, and he is one of the best fire users in Japan."

Izuku made a noise of agreement. "I suppose you're right. But it still sucks."

"It's only a week, and I've been putting up with him for years."

"You shouldn't have to put up with him. Promise to text me if he steps out of line. I'll get Hawks to fly us to you for backup."

Todoroki's smile grew slightly. "I'll remember that. Actually, you made quite the impression on Endeavor."

"I did?"

"Yes, he thought you were All Might's son too."

Izuku's soul left his body for a moment and when he came back to himself he said, "I hope you told Endeavor that it was not the case."

"I told him you denied it, yes."

That's not the same thing. "Um, okay. You'd still want to be my friend even if All Might wasn't my father?"

"Of course. I understand why you hide it, but I think you need to be more subtle. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who suspects, but I could be. I've always been observant."

"Um, okay. But for the record, he's not my dad." Izuku wondered how long he'd have to deny this rumor. Little did he know, it would follow him his whole career, and Todoroki Shouto would never be truly convinced.

Hawks agency was not too far from UA, it was in a different prefecture but only about an hour away by bullet train. He said goodbye to his friends and had to wait for a few hours for his train to leave.

Arriving at his destination, he pulled out his phone and followed the directions to Hawks agency. It was about 25 minutes later when he found it. It was not as nice as Izuku was expecting for the number three hero, but many heroes had different priorities. Some wanted fancy agencies, but others focused on giving back to the community or on sidekicks. Hawks was probably one of those kinds of heroes.

He opened the door and there was a large lobby, several stories high and decently wide. Also, very dark, eerie almost. There was a reception desk but no one manning it.

"That's odd. Hello?" Izuku said to the empty room. He looked to his left when he thought he saw something move, but there was nothing there.

Something was wrong. Izuku wasn't sure what, but his instincts were screaming. He activated One For All Full Cowl and dove forward, just in time. Something took a swipe at his head. When he turned around, it was gone.

"I don't know who you are, but surrender now, and you won't be harmed," Izuku tried. He was rewarded with a laugh from above him. The lights were off and Izuku couldn't see the ceiling in the darkness. "Okay, you asked for it."

Izuku launched himself up towards the darkness. Full Cowl was coating his body and lighting the surrounding area. He floated quickly to the ceiling and pushed off towards the outer wall. He'd find the laughing person somehow.

Something flew past Izuku, and he turned to grab it but was too slow. It slipped out of his hands. Izuku quickly realized that he had limited mobility in the air. He wished floating was more flying and less…floating, but decided he would try something. He concentrated One For All in his fingers and pushed, he was displaced and flew in the opposite direction of where his fingers were pointing. It did no damage to the building which was also good, he wanted to avoid knocking down Hawk's agency. At least on his first day.

He kicked off the wall he was against and moved around the large space looking for any signs of his hidden foe. He wasn't too worried, he had easily avoided two attacks—

Make that three attacks as he dodged another punch and used his compressed air shot. Maybe Air Force was a good name for that move? He'd figure it out later. He was right on the tail of the person he was fighting, and he reached for them and grabbed a leg, causing the other person to curse and kick him.

Izuku almost lost his grip, but managed to hold on and flung his opponent towards the ground. He deactivated Float and landed next to...

"Hawks?"

"Damn kid, you sure pack a punch. Good reflexes. I knew you were fast but damn."

"Um, thanks. I'm Midoriya Izuku. I'll be in your care." Izuku bowed at the number three hero, still on the ground.

"Right, good to meet you." He stood up and dusted himself off. "From what I saw at the Sports Festival, you're pretty fast, especially on the ground. Your mobility in the air isn't that great though. We'll work on that this week. One second." Hawks pulled out his phone and did something, so the lights came on in the lobby and a few people came in from a door and smiled. "I asked the staff to leave so I could surprise you and test your awareness. You passed by the way."

"Good, I'm also glad your hero agency's aesthetic is not horror movie chic. Wondered where everyone was."

"Cool, that's what I was going for. Let's go get some food."

"Um, can I drop my stuff off somewhere?"

"Eh, leave it wherever. It'll be fine. I'm thinking chicken wings. You're not a vegan or anything, right?"

"No?"

"Great! Getting to know someone over food is best. There's a great place nearby, my treat as a reward for catching me. Not many are fast enough!"

With that Hawks walked quickly towards the agency entrance. One of the staff people came up to him and said, "You can leave your things with us, Midoriya-kun. We'll deal with it. Do your best to keep up with Hawks. He's never had an intern before, so good luck." Then she laughed as she took his bags. "You'll need it."

That made Izuku feel good.

The place with good chicken turned out to be a KFC and apparently, Hawks visited the restaurant a lot because the staff there knew his order, which he doubled for Izuku. They took the food to go. When they were outside, there was a little crowd of fans, Hawks waved and then grabbed Izuku and took off and they landed on the roof of a building (his agency?) in short order.

"There, now we can enjoy this and talk. I'm glad you chose my agency for your internship! You were impressive at the festival, shame you didn't win though."

"Oh, I don't mind. Shinso is a friend, and he got to transfer to class 1-A from general education because he won. I must have made a good enough impression if you offered me an internship, and now I have a new friend and classmate, and Japan will get a hero with an amazing quirk!"

"Yeah, that mind control seemed pretty tough to beat."

"It's response-based, and he's good at getting people to respond to him, even when I knew the way his quirk worked, he got me."

"Now I'm curious, what did he say to make you respond?"

Izuku blushed. "He insulted All Might, who is my favorite hero."

"Ha! That's great. You know your quirk reminds me of All Might's. Is there a story there?"

"Well, no. I mean yes but not really. He's helped train me but um. Yeah, we have similar quirks."

"You know, the rumor online is that he's your dad or something. I can see the resemblance a little. And you both have so much power."

Izuku turned redder. "Everyone seems to think that, but my dad is just a salaryman. He works in America and I don't see him much, but I think I'd know if All Might was my dad!"

Hawks laughed at that. "Well, whoever your parents are or are not doesn't matter to me. You do. So, while we eat, can I pick your brain about the League of Villains and the USJ?"

"Sure! I think everything is in the official reports. I talked to several heroes and police officers about my experiences."

"Sure, but sometimes hearing things from the source is better. So..."

Hawks asked questions for several hours after dinner and Izuku was happy to help him out and describe the quirks and abilities from what he saw.

Bonus:

"I know, and I would be the first to say let's do it, but it is not ethical!" Hizashi said.

"Pish posh, there's no reason to limit the pot…" Nemuri replied.

"We can't bet on things with students! No!"

Shouta walked in and only heard that last part. "I hate to say that Hizashi is right, but for god's sake, no better with children."

"Oh come now, Shouta. I just heard Todoroki saying both he and his father thought All Might was Midoriya's father."

"Then get Endeavor to bet." Both Hizashi and Nemuri cringed at that thought. "No students, though."

"Fine, fine. You win. You're probably right anyway. Professionalism and all that." Nemuri said while wearing her Hero Costume.

"You know what, sure. Let's just go with that."

"Hey, aren't you busy with your intern this week? You took Shinso, right?" Hizashi asked.

"Yeah, he's working on tracking me down in Ground Beta."

Hizashi looked at Nemuri and then they both looked at Shouta. "But Shouta, you're not in ground beta?"

Shouta just grinned at them and laid down, slipping into his sleeping bag. "He'll figure it out eventually."

Hizashi and Nemuri shrugged at each other and let their tired friend sleep.