Midoriya struggles to tie his tie in the mirror. Grunting when it continues to come out sloppy. He has no doubts that his peers will be judging him enough without his tie looking like it does.

His clothes are a little big on him, but they'll give him room to grow in coming years.

The boy was attending UA through a partial scholarship on behalf of his placement in the entrance exam. But, even then tuition was not cheap and neither were their uniforms. They couldn't afford for him to grow out of his clothes too quickly.

He checks the time.

He'll miss the train if he doesn't leave soon. He gives up on the tie, grabbing his backpack and slipping out of his room to find Inko waiting for him.

She's already crying.

Izuku smiles at her softly, bringing her into a hug as soon as she's in range. "You're all grown up," she weeps, chin tucked over his shoulder.

He gently squeezes her before pulling away. "Love you, Mom."

The woman fiddles his uniform, flattening out wrinkles and straightening his sloppily tied tie. "You're gonna do great," she mutters, more to herself than him. She meets his eyes once more.

"Oh~" she whispers, wrapping him in a tight hug. "I love you too, Sweety."

After that he's tugging on his shoes and rushing down their apartment steps with one last goodbye. In his pocket his phone buzzes

Train should be at your stop soon make sure ur not late

Reo ⟩ Text Message

Today 6:52 AM

Im comingdhfhd

Izuku picks up his pace, running nearly full sprint now towards the train station. He makes it just in time to see it pull up, Reo stepping out among the crowd looking for him. It feels weird to see him donning a UA uniform and Midoriya wonders just how strange it must be for his friend to see Pied Piper in a matching one.

Reo laughs at his disheveled appearance once they make it close enough to talk. "What did you do to your tie?"

"I tried my best," Midoriya whines back, following the other onto the train, doors sliding shut behind them.

"Well you've gotta be careful, you know? Depending on your teacher, your best could get you a detention for a dress code violation."

Midoriya's eyes widen. "Are you serious?"

Reo grins at him. "Mostly. If you were in the business department you'd definitely be dead." They sway gently as the train pulls away, speeding towards their destination.

Midoriya can feel his nerves growing as they near the school. With each stop more people in UA uniforms join in, cramming into their car.

Would UA be like Aldera? Would he experience the same pain at the hands of different people?

Reo has been talking to him the whole ride and at first Midoriya was easily keeping up with the conversation. But, as they draw closer to the school of his dreams his replies become less and less frequent until he simply stops talking all together.

He stares out one of the windows numbly, the world outside blurring into nothing but a haze of colors.

"Useless Deku, taking the spot of someone who deserves it more. You're aiming too far, too high,"

the voice in his head laughs, the faces of many sneering at him from the inky swells of the ocean that rests just below his sun. "Little Icarius with wax wings you crafted yourself. The laws of gravity states that those who cannot fly will fall. It's best to give up now."

Reo nudges him with a gentle smile. They've reached their stop.

He follows Tsukauchi off the train like a zombie, too lost in his thoughts to really take notice of the things around him. He brushes shoulders with strangers in the crowd, numbly following the design of Reo's backpack.

His friend says something, but his words drown beneath the thoughts in his head. Reo takes a hold of his shoulders, grounding him. "You're going to be fine."

Midoriya feels some of the tension leave him. It's certainly not all of it and his thoughts continue to writhe against the insides of his skull, but it brings him back to reality enough to recognize the UA gates in front of him.

The gates are ones designed to defend the school from any intruders and yet they will let him pass right through. This is the birthplace of heroes and Pied Piper is the enemy of their constitution. Walking in feels like some sort of trap, like the students around him will suddenly be aware of who he really is.

Will they notice? Will they notice that he's their enemy? How could he convince them otherwise?

But, he catches Reo grinning at him as brightly as the sun in his chest. It's infectious and Midoriya can't stop himself from smiling right back.

He's at UA. He's attending UA.

This feels like a new beginning. Not just for the vigilante, but for his friend as well. In the face of

UA's looming shadow and its sparkling windows all the world's trouble seems to melt away. There's no one here that needs saving.

Reo leads him through the gates and they do not shut him out.

They're still pretty early getting to school and with time to spare Reo takes to showing him around a few places. They make stops at the lunchroom and the support department, peeking inside the development studio with sly grins. There are more people in the halls now and it isn't until then

that Midoriya realizes just how big the school actually is and just how many students attend UA. "Each tower is usually dedicated to their own departments, though there is some overflow from time to time," Reo explains, finally leading the way to general education classrooms.

Just like the support room door, the ones for gen ed. tower above him. From the windows looking in he can see that some of his classmates have already gathered.

His walk around the school managed to release much of the tension he'd felt earlier. But now that he's being faced with who would perhaps become some of his potential abusers it all comes flooding back. He thinks he hides it well but Reo bumps his shoulder gently in support.

Reo doesn't know about the bullying though. It isn't something Midoriya has talked about with

anyone, his friend included. It feels like an embarrassing secret and he wanted to keep it locked behind Aldera's classroom doors.

The teen steels himself as Reo leaves and finally pushes the door to class 1-C open. Most everyone is talking rather animatedly, obviously just as excited to be at UA as he was coming in. A few people remain quietly at their desks, some look nervous, others broody, one towards the back of the room looks like he's actually asleep.

"Surrounded by the people who's futures are brighter than yours. Whose spot did you steal to get here?"

Izuku quietly takes a seat at the desk with his name on it, sitting down just in front of the sleeping boy.

He resists the urge to pick at his hands and instead studies the calluses, symbols of his hard work. He rubs at them, tracing circles. He didn't take anyone's place, he had carved his own spot here and these calluses on his hands and the bags beneath his eyes were proof of this.

He'd been out patrolling late last night. Anxiety pushed him to continue patrolling later than usual and in the end he'd barely managed to get home before four.

"Good morning little listeners!"

Midoriya jerks back at the booming voice, most of his classmates doing the same. A few let out startled noises and he can hear chair legs of the boy behind screech as he recoils. Midoriya looks up to find none other than Present Mic walking towards the teacher's podium and his eyes widen significantly. Izuku knew from the beginning that UA's staff was made up of almost entirely pro heroes. And yet here he is, still attempting to graduate just beneath their noses. He's met and fought with at least two of the teaching staff and with his continued vigilantism he has no doubt that number will grow.

Present Mic is dressed in his hero clothes, hair spiked back like that of a cockatoo and smile as bright as his attitude. It relieves some of his tension and at the same time multiples it. "My name is Yamada Hizashi and I'm going to be your hometown teacher so let's get along. Everybody say, Yeah!"

There's a few excited responses around the room.

"Alright! We'll do some quick introductions and then we'll head over to the auditorium! How's that sound?" The man points at one of the students in front, asking them to introduce themselves.

Midoriya's heart drops when they state both their name and their quirk. Everyone at Aldera knew he was quirkless. He required no introduction. UA was a different story. Only two people here knew him by name. One would keep his secret, the other was likely to shout it the moment he was within eyesight.

They make their way slowly around the room, some people stating only the names of their quirks while others give short explanations. The girl in front of him introduces herself as having an adhesive quirk, quickly explaining it before all eyes finally turn towards him.

He swallows the rising dead in his throat. "My name's Midoriya Izuku." This is where he ends his introduction. They didn't have to know yet. They didn't have to know he's, "weak, quirkless, a deku," the voice in his head supplies.

They would find out on their own eventually. He didn't have to tell them.

There's a short, awkward silence as they wait for him to continue speaking, but Yamada saves him from their stares, looking towards the boy behind him. "Next?"

Midoriya can feel anxiety threatening to choke him as he turns to see the boy behind him, content to merely watch the violet-haired teen from the corner of his eye. Izuku is surprised to find that he also simply introduces himself by his name and wonders if the kid dozed off again while the rest of the class was talking.

"I'm Shinsou Hitoshi."

There's another awkward pause after that, but their teacher is ready for it this time, motioning for the student at the start of the next row to begin. They introduce themselves along with their quirk.

Things go smoothly from there, ending just as easily as they had started and Present Mic leads them out of the classroom a few minutes later as they head towards the auditorium. Several of his classmates cast him curious glances and he's sure the Shinsou boy is no different. More than a person with an interesting quirk, the unknown, the forcibly hidden, draws attention like a dead carcass draws flies.

They're joined in the hall by another class filing out and a low murmur starts as the people around him begin talking.

"-didn't think they'd give gen ed. hero teachers."

"Wish we could've gotten seats closer together."

"–ust kinda feel like the illusion got shattered, ya' know?" Midoriya's ears prick, tuning into the conversation just ahead of him. "I started watching some of the lesser known videos of him to try and get the whole picture and it's not as great as I used to think. He's supposed to help the heroes, not hurt them."

Izuku tenses, stride stuttering. The sudden realization of what his classmates are probably discussing hits him.

"He's still really cool though," another voice chimes in, feigning a few poor punches. He laughs, "I'll never get over that video of him tasing that dude in the ween." Midoriya chokes as the original speaker elbows his friend in the side with a frown. "Come on, admit it. You one hundred percent laughed at that," the friend says.

"I winced sympathetically."

"You also laughed."

There's a moment where neither says anything before the boy finally agrees. "...I did also laugh..." "See!"

Despite the start of the conversation a small smile twitches at the corners of Midoriya's lips. If he's being honest, Izuku feels like garbage. Every time his tension so much as eases in the slightest it's always soon to come back tenfold. He wants to be happy, wants to be excited. He's at UA. He made it into UA. He should feel unstoppable.

But the word 'unstoppable' feels like a curse at the tip of his tongue. Where as soon as it's spoken all of his secrets will be exposed. Fear is also tucked just beneath his skin. He needs to avoid Eraserhead and Snipe, needs to avoid everyone who could possibly see through him. All it takes is

one person with a suitable quirk. At Aldera he had the alibi of a quirkless kid. At UA he had no such luxury, not yet at least.

Maybe if everyone knew. Maybe if I just told them.

"Tell them what?" His head cackles, "That you're weak, useless, a deku?"

His flesh boils and his eyes flash with the light of a thousand blue stars. "I'm not useless," Midoriya hisses hotly, voice easily lost in the crowd. His sun flares in his chest, determination and pure spite fueling it. He needs to prove everyone wrong. The part of his mind that still chants "useless doll " at him in his classmates' voices has to be proven wrong.

UA's auditorium is already filled to brim with students from every department by the time their class arrives. He manages to snag a seat at the end of one of the rows next to the girl who's desk sits in front of him. He's already forgotten her name but remembers her mentioning an adhesive quirk.

Behind him he can hear what he assumes are second years talking to each other. "—missing a hero class again. Always think they're better than us."

"Did you expect any different?" their friend huffs, "I kind of feel bad for them though. We'll be lucky to even see half of that class still intact by tomorrow. I heard that teacher expelled the entirety of the last first year class he was in charge of."

"I thought that was just a rumor?"

"No way," they scoff. "One of my brothers was in his second year here when it happened. The whole school went crazy."

Midoriya searches the auditorium, it seems most of the school has finally gathered. But, there's an empty section of seats towards the middle of the room where he assumes the missing hero class should be. He doesn't see Bakugou's spiked blonde hair anywhere and wonders if he might fall victim to whoever this rumored teacher is. He half laughs, that'd be ironic. The boy born to be a hero expelled from UA while the quirkless loser attends in his place.

Izuku's eyes roam unseeingly across the crowd.

"In his place?" his head hisses, "You've been left to rot in general education for the next three

years."

He catches Reo waving at him from across the room and smiles. From this distance he's thankful that the teen can't see it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"'In his place'," the voice laughs. "You'll never set foot inside a hero classroom."

Midoriya feels his chest tighten, fingers quivering. He wants to say something to rebuke it, but it's

not wrong. His nails dig into the fabric of his pants.

"Good morning students!" The words break him out of his head, drawing his eye to what has to be UA's famed rodent-like principal perched on top of the shoulder of a displeased looking Vlad King. There's a variety of other heroes gathered on the stage that he managed to miss entering, Midnight, Snipe, Cementos, Ectoplasm, Power Loader, Hound Dog, and Present Mic are just the ones he recognizes immediately. "For many of you this will be your first day here and for that I

would like to offer my congratulations for making it this far. And for our returning students I welcome you back to what will hopefully be another great year. Since UA's founding we have striven for greatness from the next generation to ensure that the ones who come after us will have a future brighter than ours."

"What is that supposed to be?" the girl beside him mutters with a laugh. "The mascot or something?"

Midoriya has a sinking feeling as the person sitting on the other side of her snickers as well.

"UA prides itself on our students and staff so I will be expecting great things from everyone this year. To our seniors I wish you luck in your final year here, counselors will be making rounds in the coming weeks to discuss your plans for the future, but they are always available if you wish to talk with them outside of these meetings. To our second years, congratulations on making it through your first year here at UA. I know it must've been hard, but please keep up the good work. Graduation will come sooner than you expect it. And to our first years and transferring students, welcome to UA. Upperclassmen please be kind to them as they're figuring out the building and

help them where you can. I hope this will be another great school year for us all. Everyone in this auditorium is the future of not only this country, but of this world. I look forward to getting to know you all."

There's a round of applause that goes up and Vlad King sets the principal back on his feet. Yamada takes the mic as all of the other teachers file off stage. He explains a few of the more mundane things about the upcoming year in his overly animated way, dates for midterms and finals as well as the ones for festivals and parent-teacher conferences. Eventually he ends it all out with another loud, "Yeah!" before letting the third years leave first. The noise levels rise as soon as he finishes, neighbors whispering to neighbors about the start of classes. Who will teach what? What is the lunch food like? Do they really have to take p.e. if they're only in general education?

Reo makes a beeline for him as the third years file out, squeezing through the crowd. "So who's your home room teacher?" he asks without preamble.

Midoriya smiles. "Present Mic. He scared just about everyone when he came in. I know his quirk amplifies his voice, but I wonder if he has any trouble controlling it outside of hero work."

Reo laughs at the sudden analysis, apologizing to another third year as they step past. "Of course that's your immediate response. But, Present Mic's always pretty loud. He's an energetic character though so it makes sense." His friend glances around at the retreating crowd. "All right I'll see you at lunch. Remember I'll meet you outside your classroom so don't wander off and get lost."

"I wander around Musutafu for fun and you're worried about me getting lost in a school?" Izuku laughs, watching as his friend gets pulled away by the crowd.

"I still get lost trying to find the bathroom sometimes!" The girl next to Midoriya snickers and he has to hold back a frown for his friend's sake. They wave at each other once out of earshot until Reo disappears out the door. It's another minute or two before Present Mic calls for the second years to head out, and then even longer before his year is allowed out. He doesn't exactly remember where he's headed, but it's easy enough to follow the shock of bobbing lilac hair down the hall.

Reo's presence had offered a small respite from the thoughts in his head, but in his absence his mind turns in on itself once again. He's trying to distract himself with mundane things, the

weather, the walls, the ceiling. In a moment of need he tries to recite his class schedule, but can't even remember the one they're supposed to have first. He's sure he must have looked over his schedule at least thirty different times over the last two weeks and the fact that he can't remember it feels like it'll drive him mad. Was it science? Math? He remembers it being something he wasn't looking forward to taking so early in the morning.

There's a whisper to the side of him that he hangs onto. "I hear we're sharing some teachers with the hero department."

"Really?" another student asks, obviously surprised. Midoriya stiffens a bit at the news.

"Yeah. I had a cousin that used to go here and they said the school usually doubles up teachers between departments. That was a few years ago though, so I don't know if it'll hold up anymore."

"Wouldn't that be so cool though?" their friend laughs. "To be learning from the same teachers as like, future heroes?"

"I don't think it's as cool as you're making it out to be," someone else chimes in, "Most of the teachers here are heroes anyway right?"

"Right! Can you believe that we have Present Mic as our homeroom teacher? I used to listen to all of his podcasts up until like last year and now he's one of my teachers!"

The first girl laughs. "I just hope he's not always as loud as he was this morning. My quirk makes my ears kind of sensitive."

He thinks the kid behind him is asleep again and is debating following suit just to get out of his head until Cementos slips into the room carrying a large book labeled Modern Literature.

"My name is Ishiyama Ken, I will be your Modern Literature teacher. I hope we can all get along." He sets his book down on the podium with a quiet thud. Midoriya can tell it's custom made for him by the ease with which he opens it, concrete fingers never scrambling for purchase. He looks up briefly. "I'll call roll then."

Cementos' lesson only manages to keep him occupied for a short time before his mind begins wandering to darker things. He remembers the nightmares he's had about this building, the ones that aren't so easy to forget. He lost track of just how many times he's jerked awake after falling from its heights.

"Jump. Jump!" The voice in his head chants with the voices of many. "Take a swan dive off the roof! See if your wax wings will hold up!" it laughs.

Cementos writes down something on the board and Midoriya numbly jots it down in his notes. He needs to pay attention, he needs to focus. This was literature, this was UA, this was first period. He couldn't afford to fail his classes before he'd barely begun them. This place was his last hope, even if the hope he clings to is small and fragile sometimes it feels like the only thing he has left.

Second period fares no better in keeping his attention than the last, especially after none other than Snipe walks in ready to teach them history. The hero's appearance had sent him spiraling into thoughts of being found out, of being recognized. There are two guns hanging at his side and Midoriya can't help from tensing when he notices them. He'd done that. He's the reason there's an

extra one there. Which one is the one he had? Which one laid under his bed for weeks on end?

Midoriya barely manages to recover his thoughts by the end of the class, having only written down a few notes from the end of the lecture.

Snipe glances away from the board at the sounding of the bell. "Alright, I think you all are set for P.E. next." He packs up his things, nodding at them. "I'll be seeing everyone tomorrow then."

Midoriya gets an immediate sense of relief as soon as Snipe leaves, conversation in the classroom resuming as everyone gets ready for the next class. They animatedly about what they'll be doing next.

Psychical activity was something Midoriya was immediately familiar with so he hopes it will be enough to ease his nerves. It was something he was forced to pay attention to. If there was anything that could keep his thoughts at bay it was a little bit of physical exertion.

The door to their classroom slides open again and conversation slowly dies out once again. The teacher walks towards the podium, introducing himself without preamble.

"My name is Aizawa Shouta. I'll be your p.e. teacher. I'm not always going to be your p.e. teacher, usually it's whoever is available." He buries the lower half of his face in his capture weapon, dark eyes calculating as he looks over the students. "Unfortunately, I'm the one that's usually available. You'll find your gym uniforms over there, please put them on in the locker rooms and meet me at ground beta in ten minutes."

Midoriya wonders if it's too late to give up on attending UA.