Tenko watched Inko's car as it headed down the street, getting further and further away.
When the car finally disappeared from sight, he huffed out a sigh and looked down. Izuku was standing next to him, also staring off down the street and clutching onto Tenko's arm.
Izuku looked up to him after a second and Tenko gave him a small smile. "You ready?"
Izuku looked back behind them towards the school, Aldera Elelmentary, hesitating for a long moment.
"What if they don't like me?" The boy's voice was hardly a whisper, and Tenko had to lean in a bit more to hear him over the other kids' voices around them. "What if the kids are mean, like at preschool? And Kacchan..."
Tenko glared at the ground for a second before kneeling down in front of Izuku, who looked up at him with wide, worried eyes.
"If the kids do anything to you, you go to a teacher," he started, then he thought for a second and shook his head. "No, actually, just come find me. I'll show you where my classroom is, that's where I'll be most of the time. So come find me, and I'll show those kids who they're really messing with." Tenko slammed his fist into his other palm and smirked.
Izuku chuckled. "And Kacchan?"
"Especially Kacchan."
Izuku nodded and smiled. "Ok. I'm ready."
Tenko smiled back and stood back up, taking the boy's hand and leading him up towards the entrance.
And if his own anxiety and nerves were twisting sickeningly in his stomach as they walked through the crowd of strangers, an overwhelming amount of noise pummeling at his ears, then Izuku didn't need to know.
They made their way through the halls, Tenko doing his best to look relaxed for Izuku's sake. But the worried glances the boy kept sending his way said he wasn't doing a very good job. Or maybe it was just Izuku's own anxiety, he wasn't sure.
They passed by a hallway that Tenko recognized from when a teacher first led them around about a week ago. He pointed to a door down the hall, telling Izuku that that was his class, and then quickly continuing forward. He just wanted out of these crowded halls, fast.
It took him a while to find it, and by the time they reached the wing for the littler kids, the halls were starting to clear out, which Tenko was grateful for, but also worried because that meant class was getting ready to start.
Finally they came to a stop in front of the kindergarten classroom. Tenko let go of Izuku's hand and ruffled the green curls. "You'll be fine, bud. I'll see you at lunch, k?"
Izuku reluctantly nodded, eying the door in front of him.
Tenko bent down to Izuku's level. "Remember, tell me if anything happens, anything at all that you don't like."
Izuku finally turned and met his eyes, nodding.
"Alright, I'll see ya later bud." Then Tenko stood up and hurried back down the hall towards his class.
He started to run once he realized that he didn't have that long but was on the other end of the building from his room, and he was hoping to get there at least a few minutes early.
At one point he heard someone yell something about no running in the halls. He practically skidded to a halt before starting to speed-walk away, face a flushed bright red at the eyes on him from some of the other kids.
Finally he made it back to his class and went inside, sliding past all the kids that were already around the room talking, and keeping his head down as he hurried to his seat.
Once he was seated he let out a long relieved sigh. There were still lots of kids and lots of noise, but sitting in his own little corner of the room and not trying to navigate through the sea of bodies was so much better.
Feeling a bit more relaxed, he pulled his bag off his shoulder and hung it on the back of his chair, then took a moment to look around at his classmates.
There were a lot of different colors. Bright hair colors like light blue, neon pink, deep orange, even a boy with hair that was partially red and partially white. They didn't have to wear uniforms in Elementary, so everyone was in casual clothes too.
Not many quirks were obvious, but he did see a girl with really long, floating hair, and another girl with horns like a mammoth. A boy was showing off being able to shoot lasers from his fingers in the back, there was a girl with white hair, bunny ears and tail, and even a boy with big, deep red wings.
A part of him was curious about a lot of the kids and their quirks. He was certain Izuku would have a field day in this class. But it wasn't like he was planning on just asking all the kids about their quirks.
The bell rang and a teacher walked in.
His first day of school had begun.
Izuku slowly opened the door and was immediately hit with deja vu.
Dozens of kids his age were running and screaming, playing and crying, fighting and laughing. The room itself had toys scattered around the floor. Some kids were sitting around on a colorful rug that took up most of the floor. Around the edges were tables with three or four colorful chairs and drawing supplies or games and things on the tables. The walls had posters with animals and the ABC's and things on them.
It was all in all hardly any different from his preschool.
And that made him nervous, because his preschool hadn't ended so well.
"Hello," a kind looking woman stepped up to him. She smiled warmly at him and kneeled down, but he could see the stress in her eyes. His preschool teacher had looked the same way. "What's your name?"
"I-Izuku," he mumbled, barely looking up to meet her eyes.
"It's lovely to meet you Izuku. Class will start in a few minutes, but you can play with the others until then, ok?"
He nodded nervously and she stood back up, walking over to where a man was talking to another boy who looked to be crying.
Izuku felt like crying too.
He couldn't help but scan the chaotic room for Kacchan, but he didn't see the blonde anywhere. He relaxed slightly knowing the boy hadn't arrived yet. He was still worried about how upset the boy would be with him for being quirkless.
He stepped forward further into the room, but didn't know where to go. He looked around for the calmest or emptiest spot, but the whole room seemed to be bristling with activity.
Finally, he spotted a table in the back where one lone boy with messy purple hair sat, coloring.
Izuku would have preferred a spot with no one else, but he didn't see anything better, so he walked over, desperate for the little pocket of calm.
The purple boy glanced up at him as he approached, but quickly focused back down on coloring without saying anything. Izuku took that as a sign that he was ok here and sat down.
It was a long few minutes of the purple boy coloring and Izuku glancing around the room and back at him nervously before Izuku finally built up the nerve to speak.
"Um, m-my name is Izuku," he tried for a smile as the other boy glanced up. "Wh-What's your name?"
The boy eyed him curiously for a second, and Izuku noticed that his eyes were also a pretty violet color, and he looked tired. He spoke quietly, almost too quiet to hear over the other kids. "Hitoshi."
Izuku's smile widened. "N-Nice to meet you H-Hitoshi." Izuku scanned the boy for a moment, thinking. "Is your favorite color purple, because your hair is purple?"
The boy huffed but looked amused. "No. Is your favorite color green cause your hair is green?"
Izuku blinked for a second before chuckling. "I guess yo-".
Suddenly Izuku felt the strangest sensation of his mind being torn away from his body, like suddenly the two were disconnected. He could still think, see, hear, but he couldn't control himself. Not his mouth, not his hands, not his eyes, nothing.
He probably should've been scared or panicking, but he couldn't help but be awed. Was this a quirk? Was this Hitoshi's quirk? If so, what was happening? What did it do? He wanted to know everything already.
Hitoshi, on the other hand, did not seem to share the sentiment. He looked panicked, worried, nervous, terrified, like he'd just absolutely ruined everything with the stupidest mistake.
Izuku realized then, with a start, that every noise around him was muffled except for the boy. His vision couldn't focus on anything other then Hitoshi. He had involuntarily placed his entire focus on the boy in front of him. Definitely his quirk then.
"No!" The boy sounded panicked. "Shoot, no, dang it! Stop!"
The command jolted Izuku body into involuntary action, like he had no choice but to follow directions. But his body didn't quite no what to do with the direction to stop, so it just stopped everything it had been doing. He stopped blinking and breathing, was the first thing Izuku noticed.
Hitoshi squeaked when he realized. "Gah, no! Don't stop breathing! Breathe!"
Izuku's breathing started again, but he did not blink and his eyes were starting to burn. The boy didn't seem to notice the blinking part though, instead walking over to him, muttering something about not remembering how to turn it off.
Finally, after a moment, Hitoshi whispered an apology before whacking him upside the head. The impact seemed to finally slam Izuku's consciousness back into his body and he blinked furiously, rubbing at his eyes with a groan.
"Woah," he breathed, blinking up other boy. "What- was that your quirk?"
Hitoshi looked down, sheepish and ashamed as he nodded. "Brainwashing," he muttered.
Izuku blinked again, then grinned. "Wow, really? That sounds so cool! You can control people, right? How does it activate? Did it have to do with us talking? Think of how useful that would be! You could do so many great things, and you'd be an awesome hero!"
Hitoshi was gaping at him. "What? You- you think it's cool?"
"Yeah! I mean, mental quirks are always the most interesting because they seem impossible! We still don't fully understand them. I mean, being able to control someone's actions entirely? That's crazy!"
Hitoshi just blinked, dumbfounded as Izuku started to ramble on about his quirk.
"Hey, Deku! Stop with the muttering!"
Izuku flinched and went quiet at the familiar voice. He slowly turned his head to see the annoyed looking blonde marching over to him.
"K-Kacchan!" Izuku said, standing up and trying to smile. "H-hi, how-"
"Shut up, stupid Deku!" Kacchan's hands popped with explosions and Izuku winced.
"No quirks in school, Katsuki!" The woman from earlier called towards them, but otherwise didn't pay much attention.
Kacchan grumbled but his hands stopped popping. Instead, he glanced back to see if the teachers were looking and then shoved Izuku to the floor with a grin.
Izuku toppled with a grunt as he hit the floor. Kacchan grinned down at him. "Useless Deku," the blonde muttered.
"Hey!" Izuku's head snapped around to see Hitoshi standing next to him and glaring at Kacchan. "What was that for?"
"Because he's a useless nerd, that's why! Now stay out of my way eye bags!"
"Wha- I do not have eye bags! And my name is Hitoshi!"
"Not anymore, eye bags!"
Suddenly the bell rang, causing most kids in the room to stop what they were doing, curious or disturbed by the loud noise. At first Izuku didn't know what it meant but then the man he saw earlier spoke up.
"Alright everybody, it's time to start. Come over here and sit in a circle on the rug."
Izuku stumbled to his feet and shot a smile at Hitoshi before running over to the rug, stealing a seat where he wouldn't have to sit next to Kacchan.
He was still surprised that Hitoshi had stood up for him like that. But at the same time, no one knew he was quirkless yet, and that wouldn't last long.