True to form, Wednesday began fairly normally for Izuku. He arrived at school ten minutes before classes started, and settled down in his seat, and got some emotional whiplash at the seat in front of him, which used to belong to Bakugou, being empty. It felt good to have Bakugou face consequences for his actions, but it was more than a little weird for it to be so quiet upon entering the classroom. Izuku and Bakugou had always been in a class together, in some strange, massive coincidence, and so hearing Bakugou's yelling in the morning had become routine, even comfortable. It felt a little too quiet without it, like something was missing. Izuku tried his best to ignore that feeling, as it made him feel a little sick, if he was being honest. What was he thinking? He wouldn't miss Bakugou. He was vile, and he'd made Izuku's life hell for the last nine years. Was Izuku comfortable with that? Had he really grown so used to the torment that he'd miss it? That was crazy.

Fortunately, Izuku was given a distraction from that thought in the form of a few people cycling past him and greeting him on the way to their own seats. First was Iida, wishing him a good morning and speeding away to go and lecture a boy with a bird head about how he propped himself up on his desk. The second was Kirishima, giving him a mock salute from the door that Izuku shakily waved back at. Next was Uraraka, who sent a bright smile Izuku's way, one he gladly gave back in full, and the two gazed at each other for a second before Ashido cleared her throat from behind the shorter girl and broke them out of their moment. He really needed to get himself under control. Ashido then struck up a conversation with Uraraka as the two made their way to their seats, the two sitting relatively close together. After that, Asui strolled in and croaked a greeting to the whole class, one Izuku appreciated. She was like a friend to everyone, and her small stature made her easy to like, as it was like she was everyone's little sister, in a way.

What was also strange was having so many people that wanted to interact with him these days. If this was what having a friend group was like, Izuku could understand why most people had them, and why people got so depressed when they were isolated from people. That was how Izuku had spent his whole life, pretty much, so he hadn't really gotten what most people liked about having a large group of people around them all the time. Izuku used to think it'd be stressful, and while it definitely was — he'd probably have a heart attack by the end of the week if Ashido's teasing kept up alongside his weird thing with Uraraka — it felt nice. It was like he was a regular kid, and that wasn't something that Izuku had felt in a very long time. Not since he was four, and Bakugou was still friendly, and neither of them had Quirks. It was a feeling he'd missed since then, though not one that he'd consciously named. Izuku supposed it was loneliness, or depression, but he didn't really think he'd been lonely. Just … alone. He hadn't really wanted more people around him, since more people around meant more of a chance the sounds of Bakugou's explosions could be covered up. Now, though, Izuku thought that he might like having a few people around.

Soon after that, class started. Aizawa walked in with a thoroughly unimpressed air about him. Izuku wondered if it was because of what had happened around this time yesterday. Their homeroom period had been interrupted by Bakugou's tantrum, but it looked like they'd be able to actually have a moment of silence to address some things. That was the energy that Aizawa gave off as he stepped behind the podium and lazily dragged his tired gaze across the classroom, every student tensing under his glare. Somehow, at least to Izuku, this glare was worse than the one he'd give to activate his Quirk. At least with the Erasure Glare ™ , Izuku could know that it was for a good reason. Aizawa had only used his Quirk twice in class so far, and both times had been to stop Bakugou from being violent. This stare was one that Izuku couldn't decipher, half-hidden behind his long, ratty hair. It was mysterious, unknown, and Izuku didn't like the unknown.

"You need to pick a class president," Aizawa said, spooking some of his students with the suddenness of his start, Izuku among them.

Izuku let out a breath of relief. Of course they'd have normal school-related things to do, not just constant battles and combat training. That raised the question, though. Who among them would be the best class president? Izuku's thoughts immediately went to either Iida or that ponytail girl, he was pretty sure her name was Yaoyorozu. From what he'd seen so far, she was shockingly smart, and with good judgement. She'd make a good president. It was between her and Iida, who was also smart, though he could stand to be a little more flexible. At first, Izuku had thought Iida was stuck up and kind of a rich-kid stereotype. Talking to him more showed Izuku that it was more that Iida took school very seriously, which he could understand. After all, they were in UA. It was hard not to take it seriously, even if some of the people in class were trying. That wasn't to disparage them, but people like Mineta and the one with strangely shaped elbows were way too casual about this being UA for Izuku's liking. It made it feel like it wasn't as big an achievement as he thought it was, which did wonders for his anxiety. He tried to tune it out, but he couldn't really help that sometimes.

Returning from that brief trip to his own head, Izuku realised that an uproar had been set off by Aizawa announcing the positions' availability. He only knew of the rush of noise due to it suddenly being silenced, however, as Iida stood up straight and held his hand up, which immediately brought the class to silence, everyone curious to hear what he had to say.

"I believe that it is in our best interests to treat this as a democracy. I propose an election. Winner by popular vote receives the titles," Iida said, and it wasn't actually a bad idea. Izuku saw the merit in it.

"We barely know each other, though. Everyone's just gonna vote for themselves!" Kirishima said. Izuku also saw the merit in that . Huh, that was weird. Once again, Izuku was thrown for a loop by having so many friends that he even got to pick a side in a disagreement.

"That will mean that whomever receives more than one vote must be perfectly suited for the job. Correct, Aizawa?" Iida said, turning to the teacher.

"I don't care what you do, just do it quickly and quietly," Aizawa muttered, before laying down in his sleeping bag and seemingly dozing off.

"Okay, then. A vote it is," Iida said, sounding pleased with himself, the amusement from this giving Izuku the courage to speak up.

"And while I have the floor, I just want to withdraw myself from eligibility," he announced, hating how his voice broke when he raised it.

A few eyes turned over to him, but most just shrugged and kept their confusion to themselves. Izuku guessed they thought it was one less obstacle to getting the position for themselves. He didn't want it, so they could have it, and that was fine with him. He wasn't going to stop them from achieving the dream that was born just a minute earlier, when it seemed like everybody was reminded of this after having forgotten that class presidents were a thing. It was honestly kind of funny to remove himself from it all and just watch from an outsider's point of view the chaos of everybody trying to corral their desk-neighbours to vote for each other, before they'd inevitably betray the other and vote for themselves, thereby snatching two votes for the price of one, even though everybody had that tactic in mind and most people just ended up voting for themselves.

Eventually, Izuku got a piece of paper and wrote his choice, Yaoyorozu, on it and folded it inward so that others wouldn't see. He then passed it on and the decision was firmly out of his hands. It was nice to remove himself and take a break after the admittedly stressful first few days of school. There was no stress in sitting this one out, and that sounded absolutely perfect to Izuku. Sure, he'd have liked to be in a position where people respected and looked up to him, but he had a feeling that he could get to that place on his own after yesterday, and he didn't want the strings of authority attached to that respect. Izuku was of the opinion that respect born from authority wasn't respect, but fear. That was why so many people praised Bakugou while they were young, because they were afraid of his Quirk, and rightly so. If he decided one day that he wasn't putting up with anyone, then nobody could stop him. Izuku didn't want to be feared. He'd earn his respect in a moral way, rather than through terrified obedience.

The votes were collected by Iida at the front of the went through them and started writing names when he counted a vote for that person. It seemed that Yaoyorozu had the most votes with four, Iida had the second highest with two, and everyone else either had one vote, themselves, or no votes, because they'd voted for someone else. It was most likely that the people with no votes were the ones that voted for Yaoyorozu and Iida, and Izuku smiled at seeing that it was mostly the people that had sat with him the day before that had voted for the two of them. He was glad that people could see what Izuku saw, a hard working but stressed out kid. It also brought a smile to his face to see Yaoyorozu get the top spot, as he'd hoped. She really was the best one for the job, even if Izuku was sure that anybody would step up and do good work as the class president. She quickly made her way up to the front of the class and bowed to them all.

"Thank you for this opportunity to show you what I can do!" she said, practically sparkling with that kind of innocent joy that Izuku had only ever seen in small children.

"Alright. Yaoyorozu's the class rep, and Iida's the vice rep. I have to go … not here. Mic should be in soon," Aizawa said, getting up and taking his sleeping bag with him.

Izuku wondered what his rush was, but didn't think to ask. It wasn't his business what his teacher got up to between classes. So, Izuku sat back and enjoyed his classes. People might've thought he was a weirdo or something — well, they definitely did, but that's besides the point — but he actually enjoyed school when bullies weren't trying to make him relive the worst day of both their lives. Izuku relished every opportunity to learn, especially if it was from heroes, and about heroes. So yeah, Izuku enjoyed school. It was because of this fact that time flew by so fast that he didn't notice it was lunch for a moment when Cementoss walked out of the room and everybody started getting up. He looked around at the clock and saw that his morning classes had all zoomed by, and Izuku couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in that. He'd been so thoroughly enjoying the lessons that UA gave that he'd completely tuned out from the world and put all his energy toward listening.

Shaking himself out of that small trance, Izuku made his way toward the lunchroom. He got his favourite for lunch, since he was treating himself today. Izuku felt a little like he was on a floating cloud as he made his way over to a table where Uraraka and Iida had already settled. They spotted him across the lunchroom and waved him over, with Izuku sitting next to Iida and across from Uraraka. He began eating as the two of them continued their conversation, not wanting to interrupt anything and be rude.

"As I was saying, it's a great honour to be given the position of a class representative. Even if I'm just a vice representative, it means a great deal that people would put any trust in me so soon after meeting, and so I am thankful," Iida said.

"Oh, and speaking of this 'class rep' business, what made you withdraw?" Uraraka asked, turning to Izuku, who was in the middle of a large mouthful of his lunch. He knew this question was going to come up, though, so he wasn't shocked. He took his time getting through his food, and then smiled sheepishly.

"I think I've rocked the boat enough already. I want my time at UA to be as painless as possible. Being a class rep sounds stressful," Izuku said, frowning slightly. Uraraka and Iida seemed to buy that answer, and so they nodded thoughtfully.

Truth be told, that wasn't the reason Izuku didn't want the position. Of course, that was a reason, but not the biggest one. No, Izuku didn't want it because of the sports festival. It was always held at the beginning of May, about a month into the school year. This meant that it was in a little under three weeks. Izuku had a plan for the sports festival. He was going to win it. Of course, that's what everybody said, but only one person could actually do it at any given festival, and Izuku was going to make sure that he was the person that was right when they said they'd win. It would get his name out there, give him the spotlight to show the world what he was and what he was capable of, and then reject it. Izuku was not going to be his past. He'd make his own future and spit in the face of everyone who'd doubted him. That was why he needed UA to be the high school he got into, because only they held a sports festival with this level of media coverage. Hell, because of that overwhelming favouritism, they were the only hero course that held a sports festival at all. He needed to win to be the kind of hero he wanted to be. He'd do it, and nobody would get in his way. Not even the friends he'd made along the way.

He ate quietly, not saying much when he was drawn into the conversation between Uraraka and Iida. Izuku simply sat and watched the two of them go back and forth. If his gaze lingered on Uraraka a little longer than Iida, who cared? He wasn't on trial. Izuku had big plans, and so he could just take this moment to be a kid with some friends and a girl he … what? What was it that made his heart so stirred up when he looked at Uraraka? It certainly wasn't friendship. A small part of his brain, deep down in his animal mind, whispered to him that he already knew the truth , but Izuku ignored that. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to complicate what he had with the first friend he'd made in a decade. He wasn't going to be the one to mess it up. Izuku processed this over lunch. He was going to push this down for now, wait until after the sports festival to address the feelings he had for Uraraka. Izuku had to do it, otherwise he wouldn't be able to focus on the festival or Uraraka. He had to choose one. So, he chose the festival.

It'd be difficult, but it'd be worth it. This was what would kick start his career as a hero, more than any other individual step before now. The sports festival was his ticket, and he wasn't going to discard it over his messed up heart. It wasn't fair to anybody, least of all the people he'd be competing against. He owed it to them, to the spirit of the festival, to give it his all, and he couldn't do that if he got tripped up at the sight of Uraraka's soft, pretty smile, or her warm eyes, or any other wonderful part of her. See, he couldn't even think about thinking about it! He was helpless as he was. That just meant he needed to compartmentalise. Yes, he could do that. Absolutely. Izuku would just not think about Uraraka that way for a few weeks and then he could talk it through with himself afterwards. Oh, who was he kidding? He couldn't go more than two minutes without thinking about her right now, how was he supposed to go more than two weeks?

This was going to be a challenge. At least things couldn't get worse in foundational heroics now that everything seemed to be smoothed out.