A/N: Sorry, for those who read the original chapter I can explain ;-_-/
I looked into the Forest Training Camp story arc and realised that it takes place after the Final Exam, big oops on my part. I'm embarrassed I didn't realise this, but I worked really had to figure out a way around it and I'm pretty sure I've got a way to solve it. I'm really sorry x3
Izuku woke this Saturday morning and it immediately felt like a good day. He had Mina cuddled up to him and asleep in his arms, the sun was beaming through the window, it was peaceful, it was warm and comfortable, and it really felt like it was going to be a good day.
"Oh, hey man, I didn't realise you were up." Kirishima spoke up with a smile, closing the book Izuku was reading yesterday and sitting up from the floor.
"Good morning, Kirishima." Izuku smiled, carefully rolling over to face Kirishima whilst keep his arm around Mina.
"Kirishima." He cut in with a smile.
"S-Sorry." Izuku chuckled.
"Don't worry about it. How are you feeling today anyway? We forgot to take your bandages off last night." The redhead smiled, pushing his sleeping bad down to his waist and stretching his arms above his head.
"Really?" Izuku asked with a surprised expression, reaching his hand up to face and feeling bandages still there. He was still half asleep, so he hadn't really noticed the feeling, or even noticed a difference in his vision, but he'd just gotten used to it.
"Oh, I didn't realise." He chuckled, reaching behind his head and loosening the bandages before carefully unwrapping them from his head. The feeling of the cool cooler air on his covered skin and his hair finally being allowed to move from his head was a massive relief.
"Ahahah! Look at you, half ya hair is like, stuck to your head." Kirishima laughed. Izuku blushed a little and reached back up to his head where the bandages were. Sure enough, after having to wear bandages for two days, his hair was flat to his head.
"Oh god, I'll bet I look a right idiot huh. I-I'm going to go take a bath. Let Mina know where I am." The greenette requested, bundling up his bandages and carefully sliding out of his sleeping bag, careful not to wake up his sleeping girlfriend.
"You got it man, take your time." Kirishima smiled, heavily laying back on the floor and grabbing Bakugo's book from beside him. Izuku smiled over at the Hardening Quirk user but didn't say anything, grabbing his white 'Plus Ultra' t-shirt and jeans from the floor and making his way out of the living room and towards the large bathroom in silence. Even though things had been hectic recently, Izuku was happy with the situation.
No matter what way he looked at it, he'd gotten valuable experience from everything that had occurred, and he wouldn't change anything. The only problem he had with the events of recent, was the trouble it caused his friends, but that was to be expected in the line of work that was being a hero, or even, a hero in training.
This made him appreciate the little moments like this even more so. He always felt like he'd pushed himself too hard, even now his opinion hadn't changed, but he knew that this was what was necessary, and so, things like hanging out with his friends, even if studying; showering, relaxing, spending time with loved ones, and now focusing time and attention on his new relationship. These things were more preciousness now than ever.
Closing and locking the large bathroom door behind him, Izuku finally stripped out of his pyjamas. Heavily he sighed, enjoying freeing his body entirely for the first time in the last few days. He turned his attention to the mirror on the wall, looking his body over with critical eyes. The training of recent hadn't gone to waste, even now he could see the differences in his body.
He had a few more scars on his arms and only one clear one along his left cheek. His right thigh only had one and there were about three on his midriff, but he didn't mind. This would give him a story to tell his children, if he ever had any. His muscles had filled out a little more too. His abs were a little more defined. His arms looked firmer and his legs looked stronger. He admired how he looked now.
He never really cared massively about how he looked, especially when it came to his body. Now, however, with the other boys in his class outgrowing him and now with Quirk relying on physical strength, he'd begun considering it a little more. His eyes wandered a little now though, down to the lower part of his body. It wasn't an important thing, but after last night, the thought was one that had crossed his mind more than once.
He sized himself up in the mirror, turning to the side slightly and looking at it with a crooked expression. He wasn't small, at least he didn't think so, but he had nothing to compare too, which he was both worried and overjoyed about. Was Mina even someone who cared about things like this?
What are you doing moron! You can't think like that! Izuku screamed at himself, clapping his hands to his cheeks and taking a deep and sharp breath. Just... bathe. That's what you came here to do. He sighed to himself, turning away from the mirror and making his way over to the large marble bath. It was beautiful and compared to the one he had at home, enormous. So much so he felt like the entirety of class 1-A could just about fit into it.
The thought of his whole class in the same bath caused him to shiver slightly, and he quickly pushed the thought from his mind, putting in the plug and switching on the waterfall tap to the hot setting. Oddly, Izuku found running a bath the best part of the whole thing. He found the sound of the running water the most relaxing and would rather sit there listening to the water than actually bathing.
He waited a little, the cold enveloping his body as he allowed the large tub to fill a little before proceeding to climb inside. Thanks to waiting in the cold for a little, the water was extra warm, and a wave of relief and relaxation came over him. The places on his body that were freshly scared tingled slightly when the warm water encountered them, but it wore off slowly.
He loved this, the study session. It was something he felt incredibly thankful for being able to partake in, but he really was beginning to miss his mother. He couldn't help but wonder about what she was doing and how she was getting on all on her own. He hadn't brought his phone, so he couldn't call her whilst waiting for the bath to fill, so he'd just have to do it later.
He was glad he was able to keep studying with other people this weekend, he definitely preferred it over studying alone, and now he could get up and take part in the question asking and answering, he was looking forwards to it even more. They could study, then take a few hours to relax, before studying again. It was a nice change from going to school, working there for six and a half hours before going back to Momo's and working for another three.
If he could have his way, he'd study for the rest of the day. There was nothing about it that he saw a negative. It was, in his eyes, the only thing currently keeping him ahead of the class, especially compared to people like Kaminari, Ojiro, Jiro, Sero and his very own Mina. This fact, that he was ahead with his studies, brought a lot of reassurance to him.
He knew his Quirk would be difficult to wield, especially since his body was so weak, but he was prepared for the outcome and the work he would have to put in. He knew he'd be his own biggest obstacle, but it was one of the 'perks' of becoming a hero, you become the best you, you can be. However, knowing his studies were keeping him ahead was reassuring none the less.
"Deku, there you are!" Uraraka exclaimed suddenly, shocking the greenette teenager from his thoughts as he headed through the living room door dressed in his more casual attire.
"U-Uraraka. Is everything alright?" He asked curiously, pushing his hands into his pockets as he made his way over to the sofa where she and his Acid Quirk using Girlfriend were sat.
"Yeah, Iida was going to start today's session but didn't realise you weren't here." The brunette responded with a small grin, scooting away from Mina and allowing Izuku to sit between them.
"Oh, so... Did I miss anything?" He asked, glancing from Momo, to Iida, and then between his other classmates, the only one of which that looked impatient was Bakugo.
"No, luckily Ashido woke up just in time to tell me you weren't present." Iida responded, firing Mina a stern glance, to which she beamed back in response.
"Oh okay, good." Izuku sighed, a slight feeling of relief coming over him as he relaxed back into the soft sofa cushions.
"As I was saying..." Iida started after clearing his throat. "This is the last real day of studying we have together. Tomorrow is our time to spend at our own homes, running over little things we need to memorise before the Term Final Exam. Then, on Monday, the exam will begin." Iida explained. His expression was so serious and stern that Izuku was nervous for him to look in his direction.
"As such, today we are going back to Hero Law. There were a lot of things we didn't cover that we should have in that session, and since it makes up for around forty percent of your marks, it is essential that you revise the laws and don't miss out on these marks." Iida said, turning to them all with an expression that reminded Izuku a little bit of Aizawa.
A collection of sighs came from the class at the mention of Hero Laws, but Izuku, again, wasn't too concerned with the topic. He was happy to study anything with his classmates because in his opinion, there was nothing he was secure on. There was always somewhere to improve, whether it was in the amount of power he trained his body to handle, or the knowledge of life, rules and regulations of being a hero. At this stage, it was impossible for him not to be able to improve on something.
"Now, this is important. This is not the time for those kinds of attitudes!" Iida exclaimed sternly. Bakugo quite loudly scoffed at the Engine Quirk user but grabbed his notebook, textbooks and pencil case from his backpack anyway.
"I want to start off by turning to page fifty-nine and running over the importance of costumes and how it can affect the use of your Quirk." Iida instructed, gathering his own textbook and opening it to the page he was talking about.
"Is this really important though? We went over this stuff in class and we've already got our costumes, right?" Kaminari asked, flipping through his textbook with a frown on his face.
"That's true, but as our hero names, they are subject to change as our career advances. If we discover issues with our Quirk, technical companies will make developments to your costumes depending on what it is you need fixing. For example, I would like to have coolers installed in the legs of my costume to allow me to use Recipro Burst for longer and help my engine cool down quicker." Iida explained.
"As for you, you might need parts added to your costume to enable you to use higher voltages without damaging your body." He added. The blonde Electrification Quirk user slowly nodded with a surprised expression on his face.
"Right... I get it." He said with a nod before relaxing into the back of the beanbag he was sitting in and looking down to his book.
"Make sense to everyone?" Iida asked, turning to the rest of the class, who all nodded back. "Good." He added. Izuku, even after a week of studying with him he was amazed at just how much he reminded him of a teacher at U.A. Then again, that was to be expected of the Class Representative.
"Now then, your costume can be designed for aesthetics, but it definitely is not recommended. Of course, you will want to have a costume that looks good and is unique to you, however, you must keep your Quirk and its effects as your top priority. Your costume should be massively beneficial to you once you've narrowed down its flaws and put the time and effort into fixing them. It can be the difference between a great hero, and a failure." Iida explained, his tone becoming quite stern when he mentioned 'failure'.
Izuku shifted uncomfortably. He hadn't really put any thoughts like that into his hero costume when he designed it, mostly because he knew nothing about One For All other than it was originally All Might's Quirk.
"Look at us. Most, if not all of us only thought of our costumes in aesthetic ways. At most, we considered how to make our costumes resistant to the effects of our Quirk, but only a handful of use implemented Quirk benefiting elements. Bakugo will be my main example - care to explain?" Iida said, before turning his and the class's attention to the Explosion Quirk user.
The blonde teenager sighed heavily. "The grenades on my forearms store sweat in them, when I pull the pin, I can release a huge blast that could kill you all in one." He explained in a tone that sounded like he'd rather do anything else. The class was silent for a few seconds after this half-half of an explanation and a threat, but Iida continued.
This got Izuku thinking again. The only thing his costume had to benefit his Quirk, even now, was the light reinforcements in his elbow and knee-pads, other than that it was just a rip off of All Might's look, which he was now both humiliated and still excited about. He did want to change the look of the two hood pieces to look more like bunny ears, because that way no-one could complain it looked to like All Might, but then that had nothing to do with his Quirk.
Then for functionality, it wasn't resistant to the effects of his Quirk whatsoever. During the entrance exam in his battle against Bakugo, he proved that, tearing his own clothing after powering up One For All. He regretted not putting as much thought into it like everyone else, but then again, his knowledge of his Quirk compared to everyone else was minimal, in fact, he was still discovering things about it himself.
"Hey Deku, you okay? You look so serious." Uraraka muttered over at the greenette, shocking him from his thoughts.
"Huh? O-Oh no, I'm alright." He responded, although he quite clearly didn't sound it. The Zero-Gravity Quirk user went to say something but stopped herself and simply sighed. He was such an easy person to read.
Izuku sighed and let his head roll backwards to look at the ceiling. He'd been trying to figure out improvements to make to his costume, but it was harder than he expected it to be. There was nothing that came to his mind, even after fifteen minutes of sitting around and exploring every potentiality in his head, nothing had made itself clear to him. The ideal time to find improvements to make to his costume would be after the physical parts of the Final Exam.
"Hey, there you are." Uraraka spoke up, peeking through the kitchen door. Everyone else was gathered in the living room debating what they thought the upcoming exams first topic would be, but Izuku didn't really want to get involved with the debate. Mina, being the chaotic girl she was, decided to stay mostly to laugh at Kirishima, Kaminari and Bakugo getting heated over the whole thing, but Izuku just wanted to sit alone in the kitchen and relax.
"Hey, Uraraka." He smiled over his shoulder before sitting up and resting his head in his hand.
"Are you okay in here? You look lonely." She said with a small smile, making her way over to him and pulling out the chair beside him, sitting down and looking over at him with a curious expression.
"No, I'm alright." He sighed, massaging the brim of his nose. "Sorry, I know I'm doing very well reassuring you, but I'm just thinking is all." He added with a smile.
"I see... What's on your mind?" She continued, her expression remaining curious as Bakugo's muffled yelling from the other room caused Izuku to jump slightly.
"Hero costume stuff." He replied simply. "I feel like I haven't put enough thought into it." He added, staring down at his notebook. He'd drawn out his hero costume again, but there were no notes, no annotations, nothing that he usually would write, just a shaky drawing from his injured hands. His brunette friend leaned over slightly and peered down at the drawing, biting her lip thoughtfully.
"Well... You've only just started really using your Quirk so it's so powerful, right?" She asked, folding her arms and resting on the counter. Izuku let out a quiet sigh and nodded.
"Then, in that case, I think you've put in plenty of effort." Uraraka beamed. "Your costume looks good and it supports you. I've used my Quirk for most of my life and my costume doesn't do much for me." She smiled, rubbing his shoulder reassuringly. He was surprisingly muscular, more so than she expected.
"I guess so." He muttered, a small smile coming onto his face. Uraraka then quite suddenly gasped, withdrawing her hand from him and almost falling off her chair. Izuku whipped around at her sudden yelp and grabbed her forearm, using his foot to push the tall chair back stably to the floor.
"Are you okay! What happened?" He asked urgently, looking her straight in the eyes and quite severely. The feeling of him gripping her so tightly caused the girl to blush slightly and she quickly averted her gaze.
"I-I'm fine, n-no need to worry!" She exclaimed with a smile, taking herself from his grip again and looking down at the floor. Izuku sat there a little stunned, staring at her with a confused frown before shaking himself and resting his head back in his hands.
"So Deku..." Uraraka started after a few minutes of awkward silence. Izuku hummed a response to show he was listening. "Are you worried about the Final Exam?" She asked, her tone becoming genuinely concerned.
"Worried? Y-Yeah of course, I'm sure everyone is." He responded with a shrug. "Just... I-I know everyone in this class is really capable and everyone is going to do well." He added, looking back ahead and resting his head in his hand again with a content smile.
"You know... I'm never no... Not amazed by how kind you are." Uraraka muttered with a smile, faltering on her words a little as she tried to figure out whether she was wording it the right way.
"Really?" He chuckled, a small rosy tinge fading onto his cheeks.
"Yeah... You think so highly of everyone and you have so much faith in us... It's really amazing." She replied quietly. Izuku felt flattered by these comments but part of him felt doubtful. He'd known Uraraka long enough to have figured out exactly how she acted and sounded when she was being serious, and this was one of those times.
"I-I don't really know what to say." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I don't know if I deserve to be thought so highly of." He added with a shrug.
"You do..." She cooed with a small smile. Her tone was so honest and genuine that it brought a smile to his face.
"Thanks, Uraraka." He said, smiling at her from the corner of his eye.
"Also... There's one more thing I want to talk about... About Ashido." Uraraka muttered with a little caution in her voice.
"About Mina? Why?" He asked curiously.
"I-I'm mean... Do you think you've thought it through?" She asked seriously. Izuku was slightly taken aback by this and frowned curiously.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked. Uraraka panicked a little. He sounded slightly shocked, almost offended by her question.
"I-I mean... I... I just don't want you to get hurt. Are you sure she's the one you want to be with? Don't you feel like this has progressed too fast? You've only been talking to her properly for about a month." She explained awkwardly, worried she might upset him.
"Hmm... I-I understand what you mean but... I really do love her... I've never felt like this about anyone before..." He stuttered, blushing slightly and twiddling his thumbs.
"I understand that... I just want you to be happy." Uraraka muttered with a smile.
"Thank you... I'm doing my best not to let things progress too quickly but... This is my first relationship, so I don't really know the correct pacing.
"Well, I've never had a relationship before either, so I can't help you. I imagine the right pace is one you're both comfortable with." Uraraka responded with a sideways smile. It was painful watching her chances of ever being able to love Izuku slipping through her fingers, but more important than how she felt about him personally was their friendship.
She'd been close friends with Izuku since they started at U.A and she considered him her best friend. What she wanted more so over a relationship with him was just for him to be happy. If he was happy, then it eased the pain of the situation a bit more.
"Really Uraraka... T-Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you." He chuckled awkwardly, smiling over at her.
"Same for me." She replied sweetly, looking back over to him with just as big a smile on her face. This was going to be okay, because as long as he was smiling; as long as he was trying hard and doing his best; so long as he was happy and they were friends, there was nothing about this situation that she would change. She'd love him no matter.
"I was wondering where you two'd gone." Kirishima spoke up with a smile, picking his head up from his hands and smiling.
"N-Nowhere special, we were just talking." Izuku replied with a smile, pulling out the chair and sitting on it backwards like Kirishima, resting his folded arms on the back of the chair. "So, what's happening? It's oddly quiet in here." Izuku pointed out, looking around the other students sat on their phone or reading books they'd brought along with them. Mina and Jiro were huddled up on the sofa, giggling at whatever was on their phone screens.
"Ah nothing much, we're waiting for Yaoyorozu to get come back. She's asking her parents what time we all need to head off home." Kirishima explained. Izuku hummed a sound of acknowledgement and nodded before resting his head back in his arms.
"How are you feeling about the exam Kirishima?" Izuku asked with a sigh, trying to make some kind of conversation to break the awkwardness of Mina and Jiro quietly giggling.
"Eh, not really. I mean I'm excited, but I'm not too worried because I know I've prepared to the best of my abilities." The Hardening Quirk user responded with a smile, putting his thumb up at his friend.
"That makes sense." Izuku responded. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who's not scared of the exam." He added.
"You shouldn't be worried, period. Your Quirk is probably the strongest in the class." Kirishima complimented, punching Izuku's shoulder jokingly.
"Thank you... But even if that is the case, I can't use my Quirk as well as the rest of you." He responded, a faint and flattered blush fading onto his cheeks.
"Makes it fair then huh?" The red head smiled, trying to keep the mood positive. It was a good way of thinking about it and it did make Izuku feel a bit better about the whole thing. He was definitely worried about it.
Every mention of the exam made his stomach twist with nerves, but he knew he was well off in the area of studies and he knew that after years of researching some of the top heroes in Japan, there wasn't much he couldn't answer, but this was U.A, one of the most prestigious hero academies in the country, there was no doubt going to be curveballs.
"Don't worry about it now, worry about it when it's actually happening. For now, just enjoy yourself." Kirishima said after a few seconds of silence, nudging Izuku playfully. The greenette let out a weak but genuine chuckle.
"Go on." He urged, nodding towards Mina, Jiro and now Toru who were all now gathered on the sofa. Izuku let out a small sigh and got up from his seat, making his way over to the three girls.
"Midori! Come and check this out." Mina exclaimed, only noticing Izuku once he was a few feet away. Jiro and Mina scooted over to the left side of the sofa and Toru left a space between herself and Mina for Izuku to sit. Carefully he sat between the girls and Mina quickly took her place cuddling into the greenette, holding her phone between them so Jiro and Toru could still see.
"What is this?" Izuku asked curiously as Mina clicked on another YouTube video titled 'Perfectly Cut Screams V11'.
"It's just videos of people getting scared or something, and it cuts off just after they start screaming. It's super funny." Toru explained as floating hoodie and leggings scooted closer to Izuku and an invisible body leaned on his side, resting her folded arms on his shoulder.
"P-Perfectly cut screams huh..." Izuku chuckled awkwardly as the first video started playing. It was a video of someone playing Minecraft when a strange cave sound plays out really loudly through his headset. The expression on the guy's face was already amusing to Izuku, but shortly after he walked into a berry bush, scaring himself and screaming before immediately cutting off.
A smile instantly came onto and a hearty laugh left his mouth. "That's actually pretty funny." Izuku said between chuckles, shaking his head as the next clip began playing.
"You think? I didn't take you to be a guy who found this kind of stuff funny." Jiro said with a chuckle.
"Really? I find stuff like this funny, I just don't watch it often." Izuku responded as Toru fidgeted around a bit more, resting her weight fully on Izuku's shoulder.
"Really? If that's the case, then I know something you'd like." Jiro smiled before they all turned their attention back to Mina's phone.
A/N: Hello everyone. I'm sorry this chapter was short, but I did try to cover some important events. I apologise if the original chapter and my confusion of the plot, that is bad on my part.
I hope you still enjoyed this chapter, thank you!
-ElliottChap