The three of them walked hand and hand to towards the exam area. Eri gave them big hugs and kisses as she left for the observation room with "Mousey." Izuku and Himi stood outside the exam area, their foreheads resting against each other. "For Eri," they said back and forth to each other. A quick kiss they separated entering their exam rooms.
Himi sat at the desk her pens in front of her. Her "lucky" Unicorn eraser. She took a deep breath. They needed this. "For Eri," they would get into this stupid hero course, pass all their dumb tests, graduate and make a life for her. She just sat their eyes closed running her mantra through her head. The instructions drifted into her ears. "Begin" Himi's eyes snapped open.
Izuku sat there looking at all the other participants entering. They were all dressed in their school uniforms, and here he was black shorts, red shirt, matching shoes hair tied back in a ponytail. Lucky Unicorn eraser on his desk. He listened intently to the instructions. "Begin."
They barely finished with a seconds to spare. It was hard watching others finish well before them and leave the room. They even saw Ectoplasm enter the room and escort some out. The found each other and made their way with ease to the cafeteria to find some food, choosing to eat outside. They spoke little about the test, neither sure they passed. The just lied back in the grass holding hand till it was time to head over for the practical. This they were confident in. As they found their seats the sat and listened as instructions were read out. Getting a chuckle as President Mic was interrupted in the middle of his speech by some guy with glasses. The looked two different testing areas. As they left they both turned and handed each other vials of blood. Letting out a laugh they headed off to get changed.
Izuku sat in the room after changing quickly, sitting on the bench, he sat there. Focusing. He had done this for most of his life, this was easy. Violence was a warm hug.
Himi changed quickly securing her two blades and Izuku's vial. There was not going to be as much blood today. But there would be some. She was getting so excited. Izuku was so going to get it tonight. He was sure to be pumped up after. A good fight always did something to her man. He had not had one sense the pits.
Stepping off the bus Izuku unzipped his hoodie and set it aside as he started stretching. His dark green boxing shorts, black tank top. He started firing off punches getting limber. He pulled the vial out and poured it in his mouth, immediately his quirk activated. Blood red wrapping slithered out his arms wrapping around forearms and hands. He was bouncing he was excited. He wasn't happy about fighting in the pits but he did love good fight.
Himi limbered up, ignoring the looks from the guys are her skin tight suit. She stood up and drank her precious vial. With a smile she drew her blades. Pity it was robots.
"BEGIN."
Izuku and Himi rushed off into the city. Hunters on a mission. The left destruction in their wake. Once Himi had dulled her blades, she ducked into an alley turning into her favorite form. She was so familiar with it; it was like wearing her own. His higher strength was a boon, she lost some speed but was more than adequate for dealing with the robots. When the Zero pointers arrived she began to make her way back to the entrance. She saw some people struggling, a girl with pink skin was calling for help trying to free someone trapped in some rubble. Himi hesitated. She remembered calling for help and being ignored. Till she found her family. With a sigh she/he ran over.
Izuku watch as the panic was spreading, with a sigh he began to fall back. "HELP, HEY SOMEONE HELP." He turned and saw girl with red hair in a side ponytail stuck trying to lift some rubble off herself with rather large hands. Izuku saw some look back, but they just turned and ran. He saw a group near each other, one of them was large looking very muscular with peculiar lips. They were all bleeding. He ran over they looked at him and yelled something as he ran his hand across their cuts as he ran back licked the blood off his fingers. His strength swelled. "Oh, that's the shit right there." He came to stop by the girl bending down. "Together." She nodded. They pushed and threw off the large piece of debris.
He could hear the robot coming closer. "Can you stand?"
"No, I think I busted my ankle."
He bent down helping her up and the tried to make their escape. The Zero Pointer turned the corner, barreling down on them. Its massive fist reared back and came straight for them. They turned they both pivoted and swung he saw her fist enlarge and this strange red energy course through her arm. He pulled all his strength to his arm, the wraps glowing and looking more like metal bands.
"BLOOD EXPLOSION"
"ONE PUNCH SMASH"
The arm of the Zero pointer crumpled before exploding off. He saw her arm; it was a knarred blackened mess. His was broken as well. She gave him a smile "You know your kind of cute." She then passed out. With his good arm he caught her slowly slumping to the ground as his own strength faded. He saw the Zero pointer rise. "Well fuck."
"Time" it rang out over the field. The machine stopped. He smiled as he faded out.
Recovery Girl was making her way handing out gummies and a few kisses here and there. Then she stumbled on that blonde idiots protégé. Unconscious lying on top of Izuku, both their arms busted. They had small smiles on their faces. "You're lucky I found you and not Himiko dear boy." The robots came loaded the pair onto stretchers and took them out.
Izuku woke up staring at the ceiling in the medical wing. His daughter snuggled on one side, Himi next to the bed in a chair. She was smiling. "So I didn't know you liked red heads?"
"Neither did I, but I love blondes."
"Good answer Izu, the old lady says we can go home as soon as you wake up. You can tell me how you broke your arm?
"Is the girl ok, she busted her arm too when we punched that giant robot."
"Why did you do that?"
"It was that or go spalt."
"Fair then, hey I meet this girl with pink skin she seemed nice."
They made their way out of the medical center and over toward the monitoring center. They paused at the door, Izuku pulled her close and into a deep kiss. As pulled back Himi smiled. "It's ok love." She knew he was nervous about the results; so was she, also part of their minds were scared about the punishment. Not the loss of money, but if there was some sort of physical punishment. They hadn't experienced anything like that, but it was ingrained in their mind from the pits. A plan had already been formed between the two; as long as nothing happened to Eri they would endure it. They always did. They would play the game and once they graduated, they would burn this place to the ground. They could endure pain, they had all their life. Neither of them had expected to get moments of heaven before. Izuku seeing his wife and daughter play in the park.
Himi seeing family all curled up on a couch watching a movie in peace, tucking her daughter into bed, making love to her husband, and sleeping peacefully on full stomach. She had dreamed of such an evening. Where Izu wouldn't have to go to the pits, Eri wasn't taken and experimented on, or that she hadn't had to go "do" something for the ringmaster. She had told herself that if she had one night like that she could die happy. She was wrong. One night wasn't enough, she wanted more. Every night, every day. She wanted to raise Eri, have a baby of her own if she could. Live in a nice house and well; simply live. She wanted the fantasies that she used to think about before she went to the pits. The same ones she thought had gone away forever when she was there. She was going to grab ahold of those dreams and drag them into reality. Nothing was going to take this away from her. Not if they wanted to continue existing that is.
Upon entering the room, the sound that always made anything better hit their ears immediately.
"Mommy, Daddy."
Eri bolted over and crashed into them; hugging their legs before attempting to climb her daddy like a tree. He would lift her up, receive his hug and kiss then she would dive out if his arms to Himi repeating the process. The turned and looked at the assembled faculty. Nezu, Aizawa, Nemuri, Hound Dog, and Hizashi. Himi could tell something good was about to happen she could see it in Nemu's face. Nemuri and Himi had spent the most time together; therapy and Nemuri teaching Himi how to do things around the house. Himi was rather surprised at how domestic Nemuri was despite her public persona.
"Well," Izuku asked.
Nezu leaned forward and smiled. "You both passed, not only did you both pass you did so in ways that no one would have ever expected. You both did good enough on the written exam, we are all very proud of you for that; but make sure you continue studying because it will only get harder from here on out. The practical was in your wheel house, but not only did you two destroy enough robots you also managed to amass hero points."
"What are hero points?" Himi questioned.
"Well little listener, those are a hidden part of the exam. The practical exam is geared towards those with physical quirks while those who do not possess those are placed in a difficult position. So, there are hero points, how do the candidates react when other students are trouble or in need of help."
"So like my quirk. Not really suited for fighting robots or attacking a giant monster head. If it wasn't for the fact that I had my blades and Izu's blood then I would have had a much more difficult time."
"Exactly, the test itself is terrible and a lot of students get moved to non-hero courses and only have a hope of making into the hero course via the sports festival." Aizawa said. "But this year we finally have some thing different. One, the class size has been increased and Two, we are going to be inviting the ones with the most potential back for a second test."
"You Ms. Midoriya heard someone calling for help, went back, and assisted them out of danger. Mr. Midoriya you saw your fellow students running ignoring the calls for help and you acted. Not only did you retrieve the young lady from the rubble the two of you managed to destroy a zero pointer. Now before I go any further I want both of you tell me why."
Himi answered quickly, "No one ever came to help me when I called for help. When I would scream or cry for someone to help me no one ever came. I know what that is like."
"No one helped. I wish that if Eri was ever in that position, that someone would help." Izuku said. "I mean it was probably dumb of us to punch the robot and then pass out that would not be good in real battle but…" He shrugged.
Aizawa smiled behind his scarf, he was going to point that out and giving Izuku a bit of scolding, but the young man was aware of the problem without him having to say anything.
"EXACTLY," Nezu clapped with glee. "This response should not be present in either of your, unless you were running to save the other or Eri. In my studies of human behavior this still seeming sense of empathy should be lacking severely in either of you. It is delightful, I cannot wait to see this in the class room. You both passed, your stipend has been increased. You two will enrolled into class 1-A and be moving to the dorms. Now before you say anything, Cementos is the process of creating an attached cottage to keep your family unit together, and if you remember per our agreement, you two have the same requirements of other students and this is part of that."
"Also some interaction with people your own age would be good for you two." Nemuri said.
"I guess that's reasonable, I think it would be best if we moved in as soon as possible so Eri and us can get adjusted."
Eri clung to her Himi, "Why do we have to leave our house?"
"It's ok sweety we are just moving across campus to another house, all your stuff will come with us. It is so mommy and daddy can meet our classmates for school. Like when you started to go play with Mika and Ren."
Eri thought hard about this before nodding her head. "As long as we are together."
"Always baby." Himi said giving her a kiss.
Over the next few weeks, the family got themselves moved and packed, the only major adjustment was going from 2 story home to a one story. So, there was no change. They were able to move in a whole month before the beginning of the term. Eri had great fun running around the empty dorm once construction was made. Her epic hiding skills were undone many a time by her "silent" giggles. The things they had accumulated fit into the house, by that it was mostly clothes and decorations for Eri's room. Izuku came in from a workout to find Nemuri and Himi looking a pieces of cloth and holding colors to the wall; being the fool that he was he ignored it till he came in and found buckets of paint and boxes. He then noticed their bank account was quiet a bit lighter. He was about to complain until Himi and Eri emerged from the back in overalls and painters caps. Aizawa and Nemuri came over to "teach" them, mainly watch and chuckle as they painted the walls and hung drapes. Izuku didn't quite understand why there were doing all this until after a few days it was all done. "Home" he whispered. He didn't quite understand it but he could feel it in his chest. This place with the changes, standing there with his arm around Himi and Eri hugging his leg. He knew it this was home. That what Himi and Nemuri were doing, the paint, drapes, end tables, it was all to make it feel like this. For the next 3 years this was home. Then they would leave and build a new one, and a new one after that. But it would all be home. They could have it and now he wanted it more than ever. He whispered to Himi, "I love it and I love you."
She turned to him with a smile "I love you 2," as they leaned into a kiss the giggle from their feet interrupted them.
"Me 2, I want kisses."
Izuku put her in between them and they showered her cheeks with kisses.
They meet the first resident a week before anyone was scheduled to move in and meet was a strong word. Izuku was enjoying his breakfast when suddenly the peace was disturbed when there was a rather large sound outside. "Eri panic room now!" Izuku shouted as Himi threw him a vial of blood before he ran outside. He saw a teen panting on his knees, he had half white and red hair and was coughing up blood on the concrete. Kneeling next to him was a woman few years older with mostly white hair with some red patches, she looked like she had taken some sort of fire attack. Both of their clothes looked worse for wear. He downed the vial of Himi had tossed him as he ran over activating his quirk. The woman spun on him ice forming in front of her palms.
Izuku slid to a stop his hands in front of him. "Whoa, hold on a second. I am not here to necessarily attack you. My family lives there." He pointed to the cottage behind him.
"Please help Shoto he is coming." She said as she began to scan the skies.
He ran over and knelt next to the teen quickly dipping his fingers in the pool of blood on floor and put some in his mouth. Not physically strong but every little bit helps where the hell is the staff. "Hey man you ok, who is after you guys?"
The teen looked at Izuku, allowing Izuku to see his scared face. "Our father."
"SHOTO! FUYUMI!"
Izuku looked to the booming voice as Himi emerged from the house blades in hand. Standing over them wrapped in dark red fire stood the #2 hero. Endeavor.