Izuku woke up and immediately wished to go back to sleep. His head throbbed and his arms ached. His chest felt tight, and it was like his throat had been subjected to weeks in a desert without water. Izuku would say that he was at least at a '3' on the pain scale. He looked around, seeing the sterile white of a hospital room. No. not a hospital. He was still at UA. UA! He almost completely forgot about the entrance exam and how he'd overused his Quirk so much that he'd blacked out. At least, that's what he thought had happened. Maybe something else had done the job, but his Quirk exhaustion must have contributed.
He tried to sit up, and found that his ribs felt like they'd snap at the slightest provocation. Izuku heard the wheels of an office chair turning against the tiles of the floor, and heard a distant voice saying something he couldn't quite understand. He tried to focus on the sound, and made out his name being said. Izuku turned his head toward the source of the voice, and saw Recovery Girl, UA's resident healer, looking at him like he'd kicked her dog or something. He almost flinched back from the intense stare, but remembered his aching body, and decided that he didn't need his '3' to go up to a '4' or, if he was really unlucky, a '5'.
"Young man, you are possibly the bravest and dumbest applicant we had this year," Recovery Girl said.
"What happened? Is Uraraka okay?" Izuku asked, suddenly remembering in full what he had done.
"The girl is fine. She had nothing more than a twisted ankle. You, on the other hand, were all kinds of twisted. You suffered from dehydration, had signs of your Quirk spreading up your own arms, and a mild concussion. Did you know that dehydration was a side effect of your Quirk?" Recovery Girl asked.
"Yes," Izuku answered.
"Then what on earth were you thinking?" Recovery Girl almost yelled.
"I was thinking that this was a school for heroes," Izuku said coolly.
Recovery Girl seemed to be caught off guard by that answer, so Izuku pressed it.
"I did what any hero worth their title would do, didn't I? I saved her, so why am I being scolded for that?" Izuku asked.
"Yes, but you did it at great cost to your own body. If you do that as a real hero all you'll be is a liability," Recovery Girl said.
Izuku knew she was right. He had just been set off by the implication that what he had done, saving Uraraka, had been wrong. He had thought that she had been actively admonishing him from being heroic, which had reminded him of ten months earlier, when he had seen Bakugou getting praised for being a hostage and couldn't help but have thought that he'd probably get punished for trying to help if he had stepped in. He had been at home at the time, but had caught the incident on the news. He had hoped that the incident would mellow Bakugou out some, but it only seemed to worsen his attitude.
"You're right. I was being stupid and screwed myself over to save one person. That's not what a hero is," Izuku said.
"That's right. A fool is what that is," Recovery Girl grumbled as she walked back to her desk.
"How long do I have to stay here?" Izuku asked.
"A few hours at best. I'll let you know when I have a more accurate estimate," Recovery Girl said.
"Thank you," Izuku said, and began to drift back into sleep.
That sleep would never come, though, as All Might himself, in his skinny form, walked through the door at that exact moment. He was holding an envelope, probably for Recovery Girl, and almost jumped when he saw Izuku. Izuku wasn't much better off, having frozen completely and immediately averted his gaze to the suddenly very interesting ceiling. All Might seemed to steel himself, and kept walking. Izuku tried not to look at him, as the memories of their last meeting would flash through his mind whenever he dared a look at the number one hero.
"Yagi, get out of here. You'll interrupt the boy's recovery," Recovery Girl hissed from her desk.
"Nezu sent me. I have news for Young Midoriya here," All Might said, looking back at Izuku.
"Oh, well go ahead, then," Recovery Girl said, turning back to her work.
All Might walked over to Izuku's bed and sat beside it. The two locked eyes for a moment, before they both looked away. All Might took a long, tired breath, and spoke.
"Young Midoriya, how are you?" All Might asked.
"I'm alright. I'm a little beat up, but it's manageable," Izuku said.
"That's good. I saw how you saved Young Uraraka. It was risky, but worth it," All Might said, a grin growing on his thin, haunted face.
"It was. Sorry, but is there a reason that Nezu sent you here? Did I … fail?" Izuku asked.
"No. Far from it, actually; you're our top scorer this year," All Might revealed, but there was something off about his tone of voice that angered Izuku.
"Then, what? You're not letting me in because of my Quirk? That's discriminatory, you know. You can't do that. I'll sue—!" Izuku yelled.
"Young Midoriya, no! Nobody's saying anything like that. I was going to tell you that you got in. What … where is this coming from? This is not the boy I met in that tunnel ten months ago," All Might said, leaning away from Izuku worriedly.
"Sorry; when your dream's thrown away by even the number one hero, some other things go with it," Izuku said, and that got All Might to flinch back at the remark.
"I'm sorry, Young Midoriya, but I came here specifically to say two things. One; you're officially a student in UA's hero course. Two; I'm sorry," All Might said.
"You're … sorry?"
"Yes."
"You're sorry."
"... Yes?"
"How long have you been sorry for? Because you should've been sorry as soon as that waste of breath left your lung," Izuku ranted.
All Might seemed to actually get upset, his tired expression twisting into rage in an instant. It seemed that Izuku struck a nerve with the 'lung' comment. All Might stood up towering over Izuku even as a withered shadow of his former self, and stared into the boy's eyes where previously the younger of the two had refused to.
"I think it would be best to show some respect to your elders," All Might said, his voice low and strained.
"That's the problem with respect. So many people have it without deserving it. I get the feeling you're no exception," Izuku said, glaring at the number one hero.
"Boys, calm down," Recovery Girl called out.
All Might seemed to snap back to reality at the call of Recovery Girl. He sighed deeply and looked at Izuku like he was regretting ever walking through the door. Izuku sure was. The two stared at each other for a long time, Izuku refusing to drop his glare, and All Might seemingly thinking of the right words to say in this admittedly delicate situation.
"I'll … leave. I want to speak with you, but maybe at a time when you're a little more in control of yourself. I'll chalk this up to you being on a lot of painkillers, but the next time we have this conversation, behave a bit more civilly. For both of our sakes," All Might said, before turning and leaving, having placed the envelope in his hands on Izuku's bed where he could easily reach it.
Izuku stared at the envelope, not daring to watch All Might's retreating form out of the corner of his eye. He knew that he'd been harsh with All Might, but he deserved every bit of disrespect Izuku could muster up. He'd utterly crushed Izuku ten months ago, and he was going to send back every little bit of pain and misery that he could inflict on All Might. He knew that All Might was a hero, and that he'd been the Symbol of Peace for decades, but he'd also been the one to put that final nail in the coffin and break Izuku's heart. He clearly felt bad about it, which he should have, but Izuku knew very well that actions had consequences.
After a few moments, Izuku reached out to grab the envelope and took it in his was white, with a red wax seal that had the UA insignia emblazoned on it. Izuku put his thumb under the fold and slid it through the wax seal, breaking the envelope open. He looked inside and found that there was a single card in there. He reached in and pulled it out, feeling the texture of the card as he did. It was tough, almost like cardboard. Izuku read the card and dropped it into his lap.
It read 'Izuku Midoriya, you have made it! Congratulations, and welcome to your hero academia! In the new school year, you will be part of UA's heroics course in either of the first year classes. You will receive further letters detailing your admission and the workings of UA's heroics course! Until April, farewell!'.
He smiled, feeling the texture of the letter under his fingers to ground himself. This was it, his dream come true. Izuku had been accepted into UA. He'd made it, and proved those bullies and teachers wrong. He'd be a hero, and nobody would stop him. Not even All Might, who seemed to be hanging around the place nowadays. Izuku needed to get home to his Mom! Oh, but he was stuck here until he was better. Izuku let himself relax into the soft bed he was occupying, thinking that he might as well get some good rest while he was there.
A few hours later, Izuku awoke. He shot up and out from under the blankets, sweating profusely. He got up onto his feet and backed himself into a corner, trying to get away from the bad man. Izuku looked around as he felt his back hit the wall and his legs give out, forcing him to sit in a ball in the corner of the nurse's office. He saw that he was in the nurse's office, not at home, so took a closer look around and realized that he was still at UA. He blinked away the few tears that were going to spill. Izuku scanned the room for Recovery Girl, but couldn't find her.
He stood up on his shaky legs, but managed to get upright. Izuku was able to confirm that he was alone, and sat back on the bed. That would have been embarrassing if anybody had been in the room. Izuku laughed to himself to make his hands stop shaking as intensely, but it didn't do much. As he sat, he noticed a note that had been left on the bedside table. Izuku reached over and picked it up, feeling that it was the same material and texture as the letter that All Might had given him. That was likely just the paper that UA used, so Izuku quickly moved on, but it gave him a small chuckle under his breath as he read.
It told him that Recovery Girl had ducked out for a moment, and that if he were to wake up, Izuku could leave. Seeing that he was free to go, Izuku began to gather his things, which really amounted to the tracksuit jacket that had been discarded in order to read his vitals. He made his way out of the room, but was stopped in place by the sight of the girl he'd saved, Uraraka. She was sitting on a chair outside the infirmary, twiddling her thumbs and biting her lip. Izuku looked at her, seeing that she was staring at a point on the wall, and laughed, getting her attention.
"Oh! Midoriya, how are you?" Uraraka said, standing suddenly.
"I'm alright. How are you? They said you were fine, but I want to make sure," Izuku said, giving her his best smile. It wouldn't do to show how freaked out he still was from waking up in a panic.
"Oh, I'm fine. I wasn't even really hurt, it was just a sprained ankle. You were much worse off than me. They said your Quirk started to get reflected back at you or something?" Uraraka deflected.
"Yeah, that happens. It's cool. Um, I'm glad you're okay, though. It's—It's been a pleasure meeting you, really. I don't … get out much," Izuku said, laughing at himself.
"Me neither, to be honest. I'm not really from around here, so it was nice to make a friend so quickly," Uraraka said, her seemingly permanent blush deepening.
A friend? Was that what they were? They'd just met that day, so could they really call themselves that. Well, Izuku supposed that it was up to them, and if Uraraka was comfortable enough to call them friends, then who was Izuku to say no? Besides, he really needed a friend, too. Bakugou's torment had driven everyone away from him, but he doubted they'd want to be friends with him anyway with his history. That history didn't matter here. He could start fresh, with new friends, and that sounded pretty good.
"Yeah. It's nice," Izuku said.
The two stood there for a moment, with Izuku being unsure of what to do next. He hadn't really had a conversation with anyone that wasn't merciless bullying in a long while, so he didn't really know what to do. Did he leave? Did Uraraka want him to go? This was confusing and not at all how Izuku wanted to end his day. He took a deep breath to center himself, and went to speak.
"Do you want to hang out sometime?" Uraraka beat him to it.
"What?" Izuku blurted out, his cheeks heating up slightly.
"I mean, if we both get in, do you want to meet up to celebrate?" Uraraka asked again.
Izuku was stunned into silence. He hadn't expected this in a million years, but here he was, getting asked to hang out outside of any obligation. It didn't help that Izuku was getting asked to hang out by a girl, and a very pretty one at that. Uraraka was smiling, waiting patiently for his answer. Izuku felt like his heart was going to explode with how fast it was beating, and he just wanted to speak but it felt like his mouth was wired shut. Izuku was familiar with panic, but not this kind. Not the kind of panic that felt so good. It was weird that he liked the way his chest kind of hurt, or that he felt hot all of a sudden. Super weird.
"Yeah!" he managed to say. "That sounds great," he said again, amazed that he'd even opened his mouth at all.
"Awesome! Can I get your number, so we can organize if I get in?" Uraraka asked, already pulling out her phone.
"Um, yeah. It's 558-830-546. I'm, uh, looking forward to it!" Izuku said, smiling to himself as Uraraka input his number into her phone.
"Well, we still need to get our results. I'm sure that you'll get in with that power of yours, but I'm not so confident," Uraraka said, faking a smile.
"I'm certain you'll get in. Someone as helpful as you has to be a shoe in," Izuku said. He didn't think he'd tell her that he already got his results, as that could just make her more anxious.
Uraraka sighed, but smiled a little more genuinely. Izuku had gotten lost in this moment with her, but realized that he needed to get going or Inko would kill him for being out hours longer than he'd said he would be and not calling her about it. Izuku quickly said goodbye to Uraraka, wished her luck with her results and then left, whizzing out of the gate as he ran toward the train station. One the way back home, he thought about how things were finally looking up for Izuku, going to UA and making a friend who actually liked him. It was great, and he smiled like a big goofy idiot the whole way home. This was going to be a good few years.
