The first day back at school after his internship with Thirteen was a strange one. Izuku caught the train, as he always did, but that proved to be a mistake. As soon as the train took off from his station, people started looking at him. Whispers began between the occupants of the carriage and soon enough everyone had abandoned their shame and started staring at Izuku like he was an animal at the zoo. The tips of his fingers itched under his gloves, and he wished that he had another way to get to school. After a while, people must have noticed that he wasn't too fond of their gawking, as they began to avoid brushing against him whenever the train jostled them around. That didn't feel good either. The sports festival had shown the world the version of Izuku that he'd wanted to present to them, the kid that wanted to be a great hero and help people with his Quirk. He'd finally gotten what he wanted. And then those damn videos had shown the world the other side of Izuku, the kid that was capable of mortally wounding people if he slipped up even once. Izuku was sweating before long, stuffing his hands under his arms as he crossed them. His palms were prickling, and his mouth had dried up. He longed for some fresh air the whole ride to school.
When he arrived, he met Iida at the gate. The two of them walked to class together. They chatted about how they'd spent their weeks after being dismissed from their internships, and Izuku learned that Iida had gone home to spend some time with his brother. Izuku was glad that Iida was feeling better, as was made obvious by the return of the energetic yet robotic gesticulation that Izuku thought was strange but charming. He was happy that he'd had an impact and managed to steer Iida back onto the right path. Iida even brought that up as they approached their classroom.
"Thank you for your help, Midoriya. I can't say that I would be alive right now if it weren't for you. I am in your debt," Iida said as he stopped to bow.
"You don't owe me anything!" Izuku said, startling at the formal gesture. "I'm just glad that you're okay."
"Very well. Your refusal of a reward just goes to show that you are a true hero, Midoriya. I'm proud to call you a friend," Iida said as he stood tall once again.
"Thanks!" Izuku smiled widely. "I feel the same way. Don't look at me like that. You saved me, too! I'm not sure that I would've been able to keep a cool head that night if you weren't there to remind me that I wasn't alone. You're a really great hero, too, Iida."
Iida was seemingly rendered unable to speak, as he fought to control his expression. He simply nodded, and the two of them continued on their way to class. Once they arrived, it was clear that there was no way Izuku was going to have a normal day at school. Ochako and Todoroki had been surrounded on all sides and backed into a corner, literally, by half of their classmates, who threw questions like they were grenades. Did it feel good punting the Hero Killer? What was it like when Bakugo came at you like that? Izuku was about to get Ochako and Todoroki's attention and silently ask if they were okay with the crowding, but as soon as Kaminari noticed that he and Iida had entered the room, everybody else knew, too. All eyes turned to them, and even though a couple of people still sent looks at Ochako and Todoroki — Mineta and Yaoyorozu respectively — the majority of the room's attention was solely focused on Izuku and Iida. Similar questions to those they'd asked the others were thrown around, and Izuku felt that same prickling itch in his palms as over a dozen people surrounded him completely. Izuku found himself holding his breath, and thus was unable to answer any questions, much to his classmates' confusion.
"Be quiet!" Aizawa yelled from the door, catching everyone's attention. "To your seats, everyone. Now."
Izuku gladly put himself in his seat as the others did the same. He sent a look at Ochako from across the room as the class took its time to calm down from the excitement of their famous classmates. She smiled over at him, and he did the same, though his smile was a lot less confident than hers. Izuku took his time to calm down while Aizawa made his morning announcements. He had to get himself under control in big crowds. He always froze, like just being in a crowd was dangerous even though he had his gloves on. He wondered sometimes if he should take Recovery Girl's advice from what felt like years ago and regularly talk to someone. The few times he'd spoken with Hound Dog had been great, sure, but he might be able to benefit from really making a concentrated effort to examine why he did certain things. Izuku honed in on Aizawa's voice as his announcements came to a close.
"And, since All Might is still out cleaning up after the Hosu Incident — which, by the way, you aren't prohibited from talking about, even if you might want to think before you speak regarding that potentially traumatic night — you will have me as your teacher for today's heroics lesson. I promise not to disappoint," Aizawa said, giving the class a truly terrifying grin before stepping out and allowing himself to be replaced by Present Mic, who began with his English lesson without making a cringey joke for once.
Their heroics lesson. He should've predicted that All Might would want to stay on-site in Hosu for as long as he could. Aizawa was strict — he'd probably ask them to show him something they learned during their internships to do with their Quirks. That was fine, except that Izuku hadn't learned anything to do with his Quirk. He still had no special trick that did something other than destroy whatever it was that he touched. He hadn't changed at all. Ochako and Todoroki had begun to use entirely new aspects of their Quirks during that fight with Bakugo and the Hero Killer, but Izuku had nothing. He was also worried for Iida due to this unfortunate development. There was also the fact that Izuku wasn't sure Aizawa would have any more patience for him compared to another student with a Quirk that was more versatile than Decimation. In fact, Izuku thought he probably accepted less nonsense from Izuku precisely because his mistakes would be more costly. That's how it felt, at least, ever since the accident with Monoma from 1-B copying his Quirk in the middle of the sports festival. Izuku might've just been paranoid, but he could've sworn that Aizawa had been giving him looks since then, like it was his fault that the maniac shot first and asked questions later. It all snowballed into a big clump of anxiety in Izuku's chest that grew as the time for Aizawa's class got nearer.
By the time Izuku was pulling his new and improved costume on in the locker room, he was actively dreading whatever Aizawa had in store for them. He was just hanging the mouth guard around his neck when Kirishima paused and grinned so that all his sharp teeth were visible.
"That's a killer costume, dude!" Kirishima said, giving Izuku a thumb's up. Izuku tried to ignore the voice in his head that wasn't him, saying, that's a killer's costume. "I saw it in that awesome video of you, obviously, but it's cooler in person."
"Kind of a shame, though," Sero said. "Could've gone for a total redesign and ditched that plain vibe."
"I don't really care about that. It's functional," Izuku said with a shrug as he removed his fake finger and slid the bracelets for his gauntlets onto his wrists. He activated the items and they covered his hands, restoring his near-indestructible prosthetic finger, in a flash of glittery white light. "I want to be the best hero I can be. Not the best looking hero."
"Sure," Kaminari said slyly. "That's only 'cause you don't have to try. You already bagged Uraraka, right?"
"Uh." Izuku's long pause was better, all things considered, than stuttering like he was in the middle of an earthquake. "Not sure bagged is the word I'd use, but yeah."
"You are the best of us, man. But I also hate you," Kaminari said, patting him on the shoulder while he laughed. "Sorry again, too, for trying to make some moves on her a while ago. If I knew you liked her, I wouldn't have."
"Yeah," Izuku said, still kind of shocked. He'd never been close to boys his age. Or anyone his age, for that matter, but he'd never experienced this part of getting along with guys who weren't always trying to bully him. It was strange, and kind of exciting, but mostly strange. "Thanks."
Most of the boys moved on and finished changing after that. Izuku pulled his everything-proof hoodie on and exited the changing room. The only person who hadn't even taken a passing interest in the earlier conversation, Mineta, fell into step beside him in his diaper-themed costume. Izuku remembered his various comments about the girls in their class made by Mineta in the past, and tried his best not to frown. Then, he realised something. He hadn't heard much of anything out of Mineta since the USJ attack, much less a weird comment about any of the girls. That wiped the grimace off his face, but Izuku was still curious about that.
"Hey, how did you do that, by the way?" Mineta almost whispered.
"Do what?" Izuku asked in a similarly hushed tone. If this was about Hosu again, he was going to lose it.
"Get Uraraka to like you," Mineta said, as if it was obvious.
"Oh," Izuku said flatly.
"It's not like that!" the shorter boy said quickly. "Do you remember what you said?"
"What?" Izuku asked in reply, clueless. He remembered half a second later. Izuku had told Mineta that he could check in with Izuku if he felt like his girl-chasing wasn't working out for him. "Oh. Yeah, I do."
"So … what did you do to get a girl to like you?" Mineta asked, like that was something Izuku could answer.
"Well, I didn't really do anything. That's just the way it happened. I guess we just talked a lot, and had a lot of similar views on stuff like heroics. We have a lot in common outside of that, too. We just got to know each other and knew eventually that there was something there. You can't forget the mortal danger we experienced together, though. I'm sure that was most of it," Izuku said. Mineta didn't laugh, and Izuku moved on when his joke flopped. "I don't know what to tell you. We just let it happen. There's not a lot I can say."
"Right, just let it happen." Mineta looked despondent at that news. "Like it ever will."
"Don't …" Izuku hesitated. Was he the guy to say all this? Probably not. Mineta looked genuinely bummed out, though, and Izuku wasn't going to be the one to reject him when he was seemingly really reaching out for help. "I'm sure you'll be fine. Just treat the girls well, and I'm sure they'll come around to you."
"How do I treat them well when they won't even look at me?" Mineta asked.
"Well," Izuku said, before catching his tone and injecting as much sympathy as he could into his voice. "If I'm really thinking about it, Uraraka and I got along as friends before we really liked each other, and a big part of that was how we supported each other. Everyone wants to hear stuff like, that's a really smart idea, Yaoyorozu, or, that was an awesome … jump, Asui, I guess. That second one wasn't a great example. But people like to be complimented on things that matter to them, things like their cleverness or their Quirk technique. Talk to them about literally anything other than their bodies, right?"
"Right," Mineta said, as if the thought had just occurred to them. "I thought chicks liked hearing that they're hot."
Izuku's smile was a Herculean effort to maintain at this point. "I think everyone likes hearing that they look good, but if it's all you ever hear, I think it gets tiring. Especially when it doesn't really have anything to do with the reason we're all here. Sometimes you wanna hear about how much you kicked butt during training instead of how you looked while you did it."
"Oh. Well, then. That … makes sense. Huh," Mineta said, looking out at nothing as he and Izuku walked together.
"I'm glad you understand. Just give it a try and I'm sure it'll work out for you," Izuku said with a sigh, hoping the conversation would end now that Mineta had seemingly seen his point.
Mineta nodded and didn't say anything more. Finally, Izuku took that chance to break away from him and catch up with the rest of the class, who were converging around Aizawa as he explained the rules of the exercise they were going to be running that afternoon in order to gauge how they'd grown during their week-long internships. It was probably going to be a disaster for Izuku, but he put on a smile anyway. He wasn't going to be miserable when the forces of the universe were so clearly conspiring in order to make that the case. Izuku rejected it with all he had. Too bad Aizawa had other plans.
Ochako finished tying her tie and let her arms hang. It would be so nice once she could get home and pass out for fourteen hours. Aizawa had really pushed them during training. A game of tag using Quirks sounded fun at first, but when there were people like Iida, Sero, Ashido and Hagakure in their class, it was like she was trying to catch ghosts. They were all so good at mobility, and Ochako was so new to bouncing from point to point with the move she'd invented during her internship. It was already disorienting just trying to move around like that, but when she was trying to catch people who were just as fast, if not faster than her, it got nauseating quickly, and that was on top of the inherent queasiness that her Quirk forced onto her. It was not a good time, even though she'd done well. Iida had effortlessly gotten first place as the rest of them had predicted, and Hagakure had come second just due to the sheer confusion of trying to escape from and tag someone who can't be seen. Ochako had done well for herself and placed fourth, just behind Sero, but she was still learning, so her inexperience had held her back. At least she had a Quirk that could enhance her mobility, unlike Izuku, who had spent an hour using regular parkour to surprisingly great effect alongside little applications of his Quirk to make handholds in flat walls and sometimes simply obliterate obstacles in case he couldn't avoid them. He'd gotten seventh place just from his athleticism alone, which Ochako had joined him in celebrating. Aizawa hadn't seemed very impressed, though, for some reason.
"You're kind of killing it!" Ashido said, catching Ochako's attention. There must have been a conversation happening around her, because the other girls all agreed in various nods and affirmative hums. "What's up with you lately? It's like you're a whole different person when we get in costume."
"Really?" Ochako asked, laughing. "I haven't noticed."
"Yeah, you're normally the most laid-back, chill girl ever. When we do hero stuff, though, it's like you just become someone else. You're all focused and serious," Ashido explained.
"Oh. I guess I just … want to do well. Doesn't everyone?" Ochako said as she pulled her uniform jacket on.
"Sure, but you've completely changed your whole moveset. I've never seen you move around like you did earlier before today. Except in that Hero Killer video, obviously." Jiro said.
Ochako wasn't sure she liked where the more curious girls would take the conversation using that jumping off point, so she pivoted. "Well, thanks! I was inspired, I suppose. I've met so many strong people at UA, so I took a closer look at myself and realised that there was more I could be doing. I'm glad I did. I'll be able to save so many more people now that I can really move."
"That's a wonderful thought," Yaoyorozu said.
"Yeah! I'm all for you getting stronger. It just reminded me of something, that's all," Ashido said with a pout, like she was really thinking hard about it.
"Oh, I think I get what you mean! It's totally Midoriya, right?" Hagakure cheered.
Ochako almost flinched. Was that it? Thinking about it for a second, Ochako saw how the thing the girls were talking about, how she apparently had begun hyper-focusing on the task ahead of her during hero training, could be linked to Izuku. He did tend to do the same thing. It was one of the things she admired most about him, even though it was something that worried her sometimes — how he was always ready for anything, especially anything bad. Had she picked up on that? Was it that obvious that he's where that came from if that was the case?
"I can see the similarities," Yaoyorozu said as she tied her hair up into that spiky ponytail that she always wore.
"Yep, at first I thought he was kinda trying too hard, but he really gets things done in a fight," Jiro laughed.
"Can we not make this about a boy?" Ochako said, smiling so that she wouldn't frown. "I'm obviously influenced by him — it would be impossible not to be — but getting stronger was all me."
"Of course," Tsu said. "We're happy for you, Ochako."
"Thank you." Her smile became a little easier at that.
The girls finished getting dressed back into their school uniforms and met up with the rest of the class back at 1-A's classroom. Aizawa promptly began his evaluation of the class's performance during the game of tag, where the goal had been to tag as many people as possible and avoid getting tagged just as much. Iida, with his superior speed, had managed to get everyone twice before getting tagged once, whereas the slowest and bulkiest member of 1-A, Koda, had gotten tagged a dozen times before literally stumbling into Hagakure. The final leaderboard was determined by comparing the amount of times a person got tagged with the amount of times they tagged someone else, so it was obvious that some people would place higher and others would place lower simply based on their dexterity and agility. Thinking back on it, it was kind of unfair to those in the class whose Quirks couldn't help them with the game. Aizawa congratulated everyone on how they'd managed to use the things that they'd learned at their internships, but gave a simple note to Izuku at the end, having skipped over his place on the leaderboard.
"You caused unnecessary damage to the environment. Work on restricting the spread of your Quirk in the future if you plan on using it like you did today."
Izuku nodded, but he stared down at his desk and slowly deflated as if the advice had been literally placed on his shoulders. Ochako found herself getting a little bit angry, since it had been a blatantly biassed criticism. He'd been the only one Aizawa had criticised, and everyone knew how the two of them had clashed at the beginning of the term, so it wasn't like he'd bothered to be sneaky about it. Ochako had thought Aizawa had a bit of a mean streak ever since that 'logical deception' on the first day of school, and that had just been reinforced ever since. The embarrassing method of training for the sports festival, the way he'd chewed Izuku out during the sports festival because of what that wacko Monoma had done, it all just pointed to their teacher having some weird grudge against Izuku for some reason. Was it really because of Izuku's attitude at the beginning of the term? He'd grown past that, so why couldn't Aizawa? Ochako was stumped on how the elite school for heroes had kept producing top-tier heroes for so long while Aizawa was the one teaching them. Or was his pettiness new? She really had no idea. All she knew was that her boyfriend had been visibly hurt by the remark and she wasn't able to go and do anything about it. That was the part Ochako hated the most.
At the end of the school day, as everyone was packing up to head home, Aizawa called out once again.
"Iida, Uraraka, Midoriya, Todoroki. There's something important I've been told to discuss with you, so stay back a while."
The rest of 1-A gave them looks like they were in trouble. It was obvious what it was about as soon as Aizawa opened his mouth — it was finally time for the school to come down on them for the fight with Stain and Bakugo. Ochako knew the law. Izuku and Iida would probably be covered by claiming that they'd acted in self-defence, but Ochako and Todoroki had knowingly inserted themselves and used their Quirks to injure a person without the legal authority to do that. Izuku was probably going through the same crisis in his head, judging by how he'd gone pale and wide-eyed. Ochako didn't think he had anything to worry about, but she doubted it would be good news either way. Something about the way Aizawa had said it sounded like a bad omen, even though that was how he said most things to do with his students. He was just like that. Once all but the four students that had been in Hosu that night cleared out of the room, Aizawa spoke up.
"Calm down," he began. "None of you are in trouble. You all look like you're about to be sentenced to life in prison."
"You mean we're just … off the hook?" Ochako asked as Izuku visibly sunk even deeper into his seat and sighed in relief.
"Yes. After the police heard your stories, it was found that none of you were responsible for anything that happened. Anything," Aizawa said, his eyes flicking toward Izuku for a brief instant. "However, things are going to have to change now. Katsuki Bakugo is in league with the Hero Killer and the same villains who orchestrated the USJ attack, and judging by what we know right now, he seems to have a vendetta against your four in particular. Midoriya's family has already been targeted, so there's every reason to believe that Bakugo can simply warp to any of your homes whenever he wishes and attack your families. We believe the reason he hasn't done that yet is because of the injuries he sustained in Hosu. That is why the school is establishing a voluntary on-campus dormitory system, which the other students can refuse but which it is strongly recommended that you four and your families agree to, due to UA's defences against warp Quirks. I'm going to be handing out permission forms to everyone tomorrow, but know that this is being done for you four primarily. Those forms will have more information. I have no words to express how lucky you all were to make it back to your loved ones this time. Do not let it happen again."
Ochako took a moment to let that sink in. At the time, she'd felt pretty good about winning against Bakugo and Stain, but Aizawa's grave tone really put it simply how close they'd all come to dying. She'd been mere metres away from one of Japan's worst serial killers and she hadn't really processed that yet. Of course things had to change. It would be impossible for things to stay the same after that. They couldn't pretend that nothing had happened, not when all of Japan was already in on it because of those dumb videos on the internet. Ochako's whole body felt light as she considered everything she'd been ignoring in favour of coming back to school. She'd been silly to think that she could just have a normal school life after what had happened. Ochako made herself breathe steadily. She could handle this. She had fought off the man who'd killed and permanently injured dozens of pro heroes. There was nothing she couldn't deal with after that!
Izuku could have passed out on the spot when Aizawa had revealed that they weren't going to be held liable for any injuries Bakugo and Stain had received in Hosu. He'd initially thought that Aizawa had kept them back because they were all going to be punished for the extreme lengths they, and Izuku in particular, had gone to in that fight. All the tension drained from his body as if he'd been wrung out like a wet towel. Instead, he focused intently on Aizawa's explanation of what would be happening from that point on, and came to the conclusion that it was necessary. He and his mother couldn't stay in that apartment. Izuku had thought so since the first time Bakugo had attacked just after the sports festival, but now he was certain. He was sure his mother would agree. The only thing he was worried about were Ochako and her parents. They had a business to run! They couldn't just leave everything and hide away at UA because some maniac hates him. That would be so unfair to them. Izuku did not think about the fact that it would also mean meeting Ochako's parents. Iida and Todoroki would be displaced from their homes, too, along with their families. That was absolutely unfair. All because Bakugo couldn't accept reality. What a mess.
"It's voluntary?" Todoroki asked suddenly. All eyes turned to him. Izuku thought he saw some trepidation on his face, but it was hidden well, so he wasn't sure.
"Yes. The situation only really affects you four, so we can't tell everyone to leave their homes. We can ask, though, and you can accept, which I highly recommend you four in particular do," Aizawa said.
"I doubt my father will accept this. Do you think the number two hero can't protect his own children?" Todoroki said with a frown.
"If he is that arrogant, then I will let him try and fail. All Might wasn't able to overcome the forces at play here at the USJ. Explain it properly, and he should agree easily," Aizawa shot back with one of his terrifying smiles.
"He still won't want me out of his sight. He's never liked letting his … children move away from home," Todoroki said.
Izuku stared at him and wondered why he was putting up opposition to this. He had a chance to get away from his dad, the one who was responsible for his entire family's hellish existence. And what had he been about to say before he corrected himself? Definitely not children. Maybe tools. That would fit the image of Endeavor that Izuku had firmly fixed in his mind ever since Todoroki had explained his family history to him back during the sports festival. Maybe it wasn't so simple as getting away from his father. Todoroki had siblings, Izuku knew he did, so maybe he was worried about them if he took the offer but none of them did. That was understandable, and even admirable. He shouldn't have assumed that just because he had no feelings toward his own scumbag father, that didn't mean Todoroki was the same. He clearly still had some things he had to work out. So did Izuku. So did everyone.
"Even though I come from a family of heroes as well, I'll do my best to convince them to accept the offer. My mother and father are retired, and my older brother still can't walk, much less defend himself if either of those villains attack. I am the only one fit to inherit the title of Ingenium, and thus I have a responsibility to protect my loved ones. If that means leaving our home for the time being, then I will accept that," Iida said, overly verbose as usual. It really was nice to see him act like himself again.
"I think it'll be a battle, but my parents should be able to see why it's necessary," Ochako said. She put on a smile that Izuku could tell was fake immediately. "What about you?"
"Yeah. It's just me and my mom. She'll definitely agree," Izuku said. He tried for a smile, but it wasn't going to happen. His failure to protect her was why this was happening in the first place. Of course he was going to make sure she knew exactly how important it was that she be kept safe within UA's walls. What happened with her and Bakugo couldn't happen again. He wouldn't let that happen again.
"Great. As I said, you'll be getting a more detailed explanation of the system tomorrow with the permission forms for your parents to sign. If you have questions, the form will most likely be able to answer them. If not, feel free to ask me," Aizawa said flatly. He turned to leave, but paused for a moment. "You four really are lucky to have survived, but I saw the recordings of that fight. You've all got the potential to be great heroes. Keep at it."
Aizawa left after that. Izuku was stunned into silence. Had they just gotten a compliment from Eraserhead ? Unheard of, especially for Izuku. That was an exaggeration, Izuku knew it, since he had indeed gotten compliments from Aizawa before — even if the number could be counted on one hand. It felt hollow coming after the very pointed comment on his performance during Quirk tag earlier, but Izuku could accept that he was probably never going to get on Aizawa's good side. He didn't want to be. Izuku was there to learn from Aizawa, not be coddled by him, even if the guy could stand to lighten up. After that brief discussion, there was really nothing to be said. The four of them left for home and set off on their missions of convincing their families. Things were going to change from now on, it was inevitable, so why fight it?
The following weekend, Izuku and his mother had packed up their apartment and prepared to move it using the truck that UA had rented for them. It had been easy to convince her — he actually hadn't finished his sentence before Inko had enthusiastically agreed to move out of the apartment they'd stayed in for most of Izuku's life. Neither of them slept easy in their home anymore, and both wanted to be as safe as possible going forward. So, they moved into the relatively small building that UA had put up in the days since announcing the dorm system. They arrived at the section of land designated for the hero course dorms and found that a surprising number of the members of 1-A had chosen to move in, though the others hadn't had to bring their parents and siblings with them. The most immediately recognisable was Shoji, which made sense seeing as how he'd overheard Shoji and Tokoyami talking about how the former had lived all the way in Fukuoka before renting an apartment closer to UA, like Ochako. Sato had also elected to move into the dorms, and Izuku caught some of the conversation he was having with Koda about doing the same from Tottori, with Koda signing something in response that Izuku couldn't understand. That made seven of them, with Izuku, Ochako, Iida and Todoroki among them. Izuku amended that to nine when Ashido and Kirishima showed up with luggage after having apparently caught the train the whole way from Chiba together. Izuku was suddenly reminded that they'd known each other before UA, which he should really remember in the future, since it explained their whole dynamic pretty easily. Izuku had to correct himself again to ten when Aoyama unfortunately appeared out of thin air with too many suitcases for one person. Izuku didn't hate Aoyama, he was just … too much.
The four students that had been present at Hosu were separated from their family members as Aizawa and Present Mic showed themselves from within the student dorm. Mic led the family of the Hosu Heroes — Izuku and Ochako audibly booed him as he led their parents toward the second, smaller dorm off to the side of 1-A's building. Additionally, 1-A's dorm itself was placed next to an identical dorm for 1-B, which actually had a greater number of students moving in at eleven. Iida, as the one present class representative, went over to attempt diplomacy with a girl with long orange hair and massive hands that she was using to carry a truckload — Todoroki didn't laugh, which wasn't that surprising, but Izuku had thought it was funny — of things into their dorm. While Iida tired himself out with his endless crusade, Aizawa led them through a tour of their home away from home.
The building was meant to house all twenty students in 1-A — nineteen ever since Bakugo had been expelled — had they all agreed, which meant there was plenty of room, as they only had ten. The first floor was a common area, with bathrooms, a kitchen, a laundry room, couches, a TV, and other shared features. The rooms began on the second floor, with boys on the left wing and girls on the right, for a total of eight rooms per floor. In an effort to spread out and take advantage of the space, Kirishima and Ashido immediately raced each other to the top floor and took a room each up there. With four floors of rooms and only ten people moving in, that was probably not a bad idea if one didn't want to be woken up in the middle of the night by restless neighbours. Izuku took a room on the third floor, just because using the stairs would be exercise. Ochako tried to take a room on the third floor as well, but Aizawa put a stop to that, and it took she and Izuku a second to figure out why. She quickly accepted a room on the fourth floor when they did, all the while refusing to look at Izuku when Aizawa was nearby. Izuku thought it was uncalled for, but he had a fraction of a point. They weren't there to have fun. This was happening because a tragedy had occurred. The others had their vibe thoroughly killed after that lecture. Aoyama and Todoroki took rooms on the second floor, and Koda and Iida joined Izuku on the third floor. Shoji took a room on the fourth floor, while Sato joined Ashido and Kirishima on the fifth floor, much to their amusement. Inexplicably, he later re-assigned a room for himself on the fourth floor, and refused to explain why.
Izuku and the other students who'd brought their families went and checked up on them when they were finished with their rooms. Izuku tried not to fully lose his cool, meeting two previous holders of the Ingenium name, Iida's brother and mother, and got an autograph that he was going to keep forever. All of their parents were insistent that they personally thank the heroes that saved their kids' lives, which made for a chaotic back and forth. A woman who Izuku had assumed to be Todoroki's mother introduced herself, and Izuku fought to really keep himself from saying anything that would imply he knew what had gone down in her family's history, but when he learned that it was actually Todoroki's older sister, Fuyumi, he allowed himself to relax a little bit.
The real test was Ochako's parents.
"So, you're dating my daughter," said a burly man — who seemed to be the one Ochako inherited her extroverted nature from — who Izuku knew was named Diasuke Uraraka. His tone was hard, as if he disapproved.
"Yes, sir," Izuku said, his voice pitifully high and shaky compared to the man before him. "I promise I'll try my best to treat her well."
"Come on, dad! You said you wouldn't!" Ochako moaned as her dad seemingly broke character and let a big grin split his face, before bringing them both in for a big side-hug with each arm. That was a relief.
"It's nice to meet you, Izuku Midoriya," an identical, older clone of Ochako — Kazuko Uraraka — said. She, at least, was smiling as she bowed to Izuku, which he tried to assure her she had no obligation to do, but it seemed the Urarakas were set in their ways. "We've heard a lot about you."
"Um, I've heard a lot about you, too! You know, I really respect how you two run your own construction company," Izuku said, which seemed to shock the two of them until Ochako explained that she had been very honest about their situation. "I've read that it's hard to do nowadays, since hero agencies and the Commission itself tend to handle cleanup operations themselves. It's like you're heroes, too, helping people rebuild after the fighting is done. I think that's pretty cool!"
Thankfully, the Urarakas seemed to like him. They didn't hate him, at the very least. With introductions out of the way, The Hosu Heroes — Izuku would be begging Present Mic when Monday morning English class came around for that to not catch on — ate with their parents that night, and it was a good time. The four of them then met back up with their classmates in their proper dorm and explained their situation to get ahead of the inevitable avalanche of questions that some people — Ochako was definitely staring at Ashido during that part — would send their way sooner or later. Overall, it was a good day. Izuku had everyone he cared about in one place that was safe from the distant threat Bakugo posed. It was everything he'd ever wanted. Now he could really focus on school and just getting through it to come out the other side a real hero.
Izuku went to sleep that night excited for what could happen by the time he woke up. That was a first.