It had been two days since the battle trial, and everyone was getting excited for when their next big lesson would be. They had already had two more Foundational Heroics lessons with All Might since that first day, but it had been on the basics of how to conduct yourself during live combat; things like what stances are best for offense, defense and neutral combat, and other things like how to block and throw a punch properly. It was very educational, since basically all of Izuku's training to receive One for All had been strength, speed and endurance training. He supposed he didn't expect a lot from All Might in the way of technique, as he only really needed one good punch to take any foe down.
People had of course complained that the lesson was 'lame', but a few of the less combative students, like Shinso, Jiro and Aoyama had agreed with Izuku that the lesson was purely beneficial after their first lesson shoving them into advanced combat procedures. All in all, Izuku had appreciated a slowing in pace since his first two days of school.
Izuku was sitting in class, looking over at the empty spot that Ochaco would have been sitting in if not for him. She had told him to not blame himself, but how could he not? He had prodded at Bakugo's ego to the point where he had seriously maimed her. Possibly permanently injuring her, even with Recovery Girl's healing. It was wrong to not think that he was at least partially responsible, but didn't want to dwell on how he hurt Ochaco. Instead, by talking with her in the infirmary the day before, Izuku had decided to turn that guilt into motivation, a drive to make sure nothing like that ever happens to another person he cared about, and had vowed to stick to that declaration.
It was about ten minutes until class was supposed to start, and he had gotten there about five minutes prior. Izuku looked around and saw that just about everyone, except for Bakugo, had arrived. Izuku turned around and started a conversation with Shinso to kill some time before Aizawa was due to arrive.
"How'd you sleep last night?" Izuku asked, seeing the bags under Shinso's eye had gotten darker as the days went on.
"Oh, you know, shit," Shinso said, a small smirk on his face.
"Shinso! You shouldn't say words like that," Izuku said, looking around him like people were going to think poorly of him for something that Shinso had said.
"What? Your Mom never taught you the 'golden rule of cussing'?" Shinso asked, a teasing tone to his voice.
"No, what's that?" Izuku asked back.
"You only do it when you mean it," Shinso answered, grinning like the cat that ate the canary.
"Oh," Izuku said, considering the validity of that rule.
"Relax. I was just messing with you," Shinso said, regarding Izuku with caution. He knew that Izuku had been bullied pretty harshly for his supposed Quirklessness, but the guy really didn't know how to take a joke. He'd have to work on that with him.
The day before, Aizawa had walked in earlier than he was supposed to, which Izuku noticed was always exactly when their Homeroom period was supposed to begin. He would've thought that it was unprofessional, but Aizawa's tendency to get to the root of problems and issues as soon as possible made up for that, them beginning and ending right on the bell's ringing.
Alongside Aizawa walked Ochaco, still in a cast for her left arm. She was wearing regular clothes, so that must have meant that she had been discharged. Izuku almost stood up, but restrained himself in front of his classmates. The two had grown a lot closer over Izuku's visits to her in the infirmary; even if it was only two days, they had gotten to know each other well. He almost knew Ochaco better than he knew Bakugo, and the boys had met when they were four. Conversations with Ochaco were effortless to Izuku, and he didn't know what it was about her that made him feel so at ease.
Everyone else had similar reactions, either flinching when they saw the cast and the bandages or grinning like idiots when they saw that she was really okay. Ochaco nervously waved at the class as she stood at the front next to Aizawa, and looked at him with a scared look in her eyes.
"Go ahead. They won't judge you," Aizawa said, and Izuku realized what was going on.
"Um, hello! I've been told that you've all been worried about me, so I want to thank you. You're all such good people, which is why I'm sorry to say that I'll be leaving," Ochaco said, smiling sadly.
"What? The school year just started!" Kirishima said.
"Are they kicking you out because you can't perform as well as possible?" Jiro asked.
"No! Nothing like that. They aren't kicking me out; I'm taking a leave of absence. I'm waiting for my injuries to heal naturally, and with a little help from Recovery Girl. I'll be away for about a month, so I'll have plenty of time to rest and heal. Thank you all again, you've been really great," Ochaco explained.
Izuku knew this was coming, but it still hurt. Sure, he'd be able to visit Ochaco any time he wanted, she had said so herself, but it still made him disappointed that he wouldn't get to talk to her at lunch, or during their visits where they were left alone in the infirmary while Recovery Girl had her break. Izuku was going to miss Ochaco, and he made sure she knew it.
"Now, if that's all you want to say, we'll call a car for you to go home," Aizawa said, pulling out his phone.
"Oh, that's fine. I can get home by myself," Ochaco had tried, but was quickly shut down.
"No. You aren't going by yourself. We'll get someone to accompany you," the teacher demanded.
Ochaco leant in and whispered something that Izuku couldn't hear, and Aizawa's eyes narrowed until he told her to wait outside. Ochaco turned and, with Izuku, realized that Bakugo had been standing in the doorway, listening to her goodbye. He immediately stepped out of the way, letting her pass without a word. Not because he was sorry, Izuku could see on his face that he was back to his permanently angry expression, but because he had always hated wasting time.
"Bakugo. Get in here," Aizawa said, strangely harsh, even for him.
"Alright, alright. Hold your horses, Dry Eye," Bakugo said, getting to his seat.
"What's wrong, Bakugo? Don't like seeing your own handiwork?" a voice asked, though Izuku didn't know which.
Bakugo spun around and set off a few sparks in his hand, staring daggers into every single of his classmate's eyes.
"If you don't shut up, whoever you are, then you'll find out what I can really do, asshole," Bakugo snarled.
"Hey," Aizawa called out, but went ignored.
"If you don't learn to control yourself, we might have a class size of ten by the end of the semester, asshole," the voice, now clearly Shinso by the driest rasp Izuku had ever heard, said.
"HEY!" Aizawa said, his Quirk activating as his eyes burned red and his hair flowed up behind him.
Everyone froze. They looked at Aizawa, stock still, waiting for him to say something. He said nothing, instead, for the first time, using the chair behind his desk and sitting down to get on the kids' level. He looked at them with the tiredest eyes he had ever let them see.
"Look, I know that Uraraka's terrible situation has had many of you concerned and stressed, myself included. We've addressed the cause of the issue and helped Uraraka to a point where she can continue to heal on her own, with weekly check-ins with Recovery Girl here at school. We're moving on, and hopefully putting this behind us," Aizawa said, unexpectedly compassionately.
Bakugo huffed, but sat back down anyway, and Shinso backed down, though he hadn't really gotten worked up. That was something he admired about Shinso; he always looked like he expected everything to happen, even if it was something so out of left field as getting a death threat from a classmate. Izuku wished he didn't show every little thing he felt leak through onto his face and into his body language, but he was working to be more confident in the way he moved his body, so that was something.
"Now, onto school matters; your battle trials. I've looked over all of them. I have to say, you kids have some potential. Midoriya, Asui, Tokoyami, Yaoyorozu and Shinso, you five did particularly well. You all had well thought out, interesting strategies that were virtually foolproof. You all made good use of your Quirks, but you five went above and beyond, Plus Ultra style. Well done," Aizawa said, gathering a stack of papers and walking to the podium.
Izuku wondered if that was meant to praise the people he had named, to put the others down, or to encourage them and plant that drive to compete early on. He settled on a combination of the first and last ideas, knowing that, while crass and harsh, Aizawa wasn't mean. He clearly likes his job, and wouldn't do something like that even if he wanted to, which Izuku wasn't sure he ever would.
"You all did well, but your fight isn't over," he added, lazily.
That one statement bred confusion, fear and excitement among the class. What could Aizawa have been talking about? Who did they have to fight? The Sports Festival usually wasn't held until the end of the first month of the school year, and it was the fourth day. So, what?
"You'll need to elect a Class Representative, as well as a Vice Representative," Aizawa revealed, showing that the stack of papers he had collected were small cards that were clearly student files, now that Izuku was looking a bit closer.
The class was sent into a frenzy after that. It seemed like everyone outside of Izuku, Bakugo, Shinso, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu were willing to fight each other for the positions. Everyone stated what they would implement if they got votes, but Izuku doubted they knew just how much power they were being given. Usually, Class Representatives at UA didn't do much besides go to monthly meetings and decide on smaller events, such as which charities to donate to and what to do to raise said donations. Still, though, it looked great on a person's record to have "Class Representative at UA High School' alongside other great achievements, such as having attended UA in the first place, as most places nowadays only cared about where a person went to school, and not about how well they did at said school.
Suddenly, Iida was up front, begging the class to calm down. He cleared his throat as the clutter of noise died down, and did a strange motion with his arm as he spoke.
"Classmates, I believe that we should decide this with a vote. It is the clearest, fastest way to do this," Iida said, Izuku agreeing with the idea of a vote.
"How do we know that everyone will vote for someone else, though?" Tsu asked, also a very good point.
"We don't. That's why, if a person gets more than one vote, that simply means that they must be the best man or woman for the job. Aizawa, are we able to vote for the positions?" Iida explained, turning to Aizawa, who was already zipping up his sleeping bag.
"Do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't waste my time and it doesn't go over the time requirements for Homeroom," Aizawa said, closing his eyes.
"Okay!" Iida cheered.
As he was passed a small piece of paper, Izuku thought about who he would consider the best Class and Vice Representative. He knew he wanted Yaoyorozu in one of the positions; her intelligence was undeniable, her analysis rivalled his own and she had clearly been raised to respect peoples' opinions and ideas, even if she didn't agree with them. He had gotten into an extremely polite debate about whether or not Endeavour could create cold, with Izuku arguing the positive and Yaoyorozu arguing the negative. They had argued until lunch had ended, so decided to call it a draw. Smiling to himself, he put down 'Momo Yaoyorozu' as his choice for Class Representative.
Next for the Vice Representative. He didn't know who he would consider the closest to Yaoyorozu in terms of the qualities he liked about her, but he knew he definitely wasn't a candidate. It probably wasn't a good idea for him to represent anything, let alone his entire class, even in a Vice position. He quickly scanned the crowd of heads and remembered something about the battle trials, his enjoyment of Tsu's fight. She had the natural ability to keep cool under stress, just like Shinso, with the ability to think of plans on the fly and change up already existing strategies to work with altered conditions. She was creative, and that was something that every Representative, Vice or not, needed. He marked down 'Tsuyu Asui' for Vice President.
After all the votes had been collected, Iida read through them and shed a tear. Apparently, nobody had voted for him, not even himself. Izuku had to commend Iida on that, he also felt bad. Izuku supposed that Iida had the 'rule following' attitude that would work well in a leadership role. Given his theory about Iida's connection to Ingenium, Izuku also thought that he would have wanted to prove himself as a worthy inheritor to the Turbo Agency, if his theory was correct, which Izuku was ninety nine percent certain it was.
As Iida wrote the names for the Class Representative down on the blackboard behind him, he went in the order of their seats, starting off with Aoyama, with one vote. Ashido, with one vote. Tsu, with two votes. Iida, with no votes. Ojiro, with one vote. Kaminari, with one vote. Kirishima, with one vote. Koda, with no votes. Tokoyami, with one vote. Todoroki, with two votes. Hagakure, with no votes. Bakugo, with one vote, Izuku, with five votes. Shinso, with no votes. Yaoyorozu, with four votes.
Izuku kept reading over 'Izuku Midoriya - 5', again and again, until it finally clicked in his mind. He had been voted as the Class Representative over literally anybody else he thought could have filled that position better than he could have. He looked over what seemed like a sea of heads, and started to feel his eyes water.
"WHAT? WHO THE FUCK VOTED FOR DEKU OVER ME?" Bakugo yelled.
"What did I say? Don't wake me up and don't be late for your next class. If you continue to yell, you'll do both of those things," Aizawa called from his sleeping bag.
Bakugo sat back down with a huff. At least he didn't hit Izuku. Yet. He looked around, and saw that everyone was looking at him with satisfied smiles, gesturing for him to go up front and give a small speech, the idea of which he hated more than anything in the world.
Izuku stood and walked to the front, getting a proud look from Iida and … was that Aizawa smiling at him on the ground? This was all so surreal. He looked out over the class and opened his mouth to talk, when the bell chimed for their first class, English. Izuku thanked his lucky stars that he'd get to have the whole day before meeting back at the classroom for Foundational Heroics before having to address his new position.
All day, Izuku couldn't focus. He was always thinking about how he was the Class Rep. How could this have happened? He really didn't get it. He didn't think he had the quick thinking, the charisma or the authoritative tone to be a leader. He thought someone like Yaoyorozu or Iida was more suited to the role, on account of their clearly classier upbringings and their height. He sometimes felt embarrassed talking to Iida or Yaoyorozu because he was so short compared to the average for a boy his age, but told himself it was nothing. Recovery Girl was more respected in some places than All Might, and she was under four feet tall, Izuku was sure of it. All Might on the other hand, was seven feet, two inches tall. He had measured it himself in an attempt to make a life-sized variant of his action figure when he was young. Izuku had soon found out that he didn't have the funds or the patience to make a life-sized action figure of All Might, a behemoth of a man. He knew respect had nothing to do with height, though it didn't help.
All the way until lunch, it was in the back of his mind, gnawing away at him slowly. He couldn't even appreciate Midnight's lesson on heroes' code names throughout history, and how they were indicative of the time they were adopted in. He had been too out of it to answer Ectoplasm's question in their Math lesson, even though he was sure he would have known the answer.
"Hey, are you okay?" Tsu asked as she sat down across from Izuku.
"No. I don't want this position," Izuku said.
"Why not?" Shinso asked, sitting beside Izuku.
"I just don't think that I'm qualified. I'd much rather someone like Yaoyorozu or Iida take the position instead of me. I even voted for Yaoyorozu!" Izuku said, exasperated.
"Well, if it's any consolation, I do think you can do it. I voted for you," Shinso said, picking at his food.
"So did I," Tsu chimed in.
"You both voted for me? Why?" Izuku asked, desperately wanting the answer.
"We think that you're the right guy for the job. It's as simple as that. I know a couple of other people that voted for you, too," Shinso said, dismissively.
"Who else voted for me?" Izuku said, curiously.
"Well, Uraraka, for one," Shinso said, a small smirk spreading across his face.
Izuku didn't know that Ochaco would've been given the option to vote before she left. He thought it was fair, she had been in the classroom just minutes beforehand, and had already been talking with Aizawa. There was also the fact that she was coming back in just a month, so the school wouldn't be so quick as to dismiss her right to have representation in the student council. He had missed it, but now he was sure that there were indeed twenty votes in the pool, where there should've been nineteen with Ochaco missing.
"Ochaco," Izuku mumbled, clutching his fork just a bit harder.
He missed how Shinso looked over at Tsu with a knowing wink. He leaned back in his chair, twirling his knife between his fingers.
"That's right. I bet that Uraraka would want you to keep the position and work as hard as you could. I remember you telling me about a promise," Shinso said, and Izuku caught on.
"You're just using her to get me to keep the position! How dare you?" Izuku declared.
"Yes and now. She did vote for you, and I do believe that she'd want you to keep at it, but I am just using that to get my own happy ending. I want you to do this, Greenie. You need to do this," Shinso pushed.
"Why?" Izuku asked, running a hand through his wild, curly hair.
"Because you're a wimp," Shinso said, making Izuku and Tsu's gaze snap to him.
"I think I get what Shinso is trying to say, even if he is saying it very poorly. He's implying that you have very underdeveloped social skills, on account of your history as … wrongfully diagnosed as Quirkless. He thinks that you being the Class Representative will put you in a situation where you need to develop those skills and cultivate the ability to clearly and concisely guide a conversation, and talk to people as a whole," Tsu explained in her regular, understandable way.
"Oh. Well, when you put it that way …" Izuku said, leaning back on his seat.
Shinso looked at Tsu with a look that said 'thank you', and Tsu croaked softly in reply. Izuku missed this, as he had his eyes closed as he thought. All of these points made sense, even if he disagreed that he was the ideal person to hold the position. He opened his eyes and sat straight, looking between Tsu and Shinso with determination.
"Thank you two for making me see that I was being immature. I still think I'm unfit, but I agree that doing this job could make me fit. I'm going to try, at least," Izuku said, smiling softly.
Suddenly, a loud alarm started blaring, making everyone cover their ears to stop the piercing sound from bursting their eardrums. Izuku looked around, trying to spot a siren that was attached to the wall, but found none. He figured that the alarm was coming from the regular speakers, and wondered how they didn't blow out while playing such a high, piercing noise constantly.
The lunch room was in chaos. Students were sprinting toward the exit, and screaming as much as possible. Izuku thought it was a bit contradictory for the student body of a school with the country's highest ranked hero course to be panicking this much at the slightest hint of trouble. He tried to look for an older student, and managed to see one, using Blackwhip to tap the girl on the shoulder and get her attention.
"C'mon, kid! Stop messing around, that's a Level Three threat! That means that outsiders have breached the school's security! Get to your Homeroom," the girl said, before running off.
"At least she still told me what was happening," Izuku muttered to himself, before turning to Shinso and Tsu.
"What's happening?" Shinso asked.
"Apparently, someone's broken onto campus. The protocol is to assemble at our Homeroom," Izuku said.
"Are we going to do that?" Tsu asked, having a feeling she already knew the answer.
"No. I want to help these people, somehow. Maybe I can gain height and see what's going on through the windows in that hallway," Izuku thought out loud, pointing over to the hallway all the students were crowding into.
"That's a good idea. We should get over there while we can," Shinso said, already heading over.
The three of them headed over to the entrance to the small hallway and began making their way to the edge of the crowd, hoping to get a peek through the window at the front gate, which they could see easily. Izuku had to push past people to get through, and Shinso facepalmed at how he apologized to every single person, even if they hadn't even noticed he'd bumped into them in the first place.
As soon as Izuku saw the scene at the gate, he knew it was bad. The gate wasn't even solid anymore, just a pile of dust on the ground getting trampled by reporters and media consultants. Izuku had seen them at the gate that morning, but had used Blackwhip to get over the crowd and through the gate before any of them had spoken to him, because he knew he would've forced himself to speak back.
The only part of the gate that remained was the edges that were connected to the wall surrounding the campus. The one thing that caught his attention fully, however, was a man in all black. He had light bluish hair that needed a wash. He had red eyes, and was frantically scratching his neck. The man unnerved Izuku, and not just because he was sure he had seen someone looking exactly like him on a 'Don't Talk to Strangers' poster. It was the fact that he was the only person not rushing the gate with the intent on talking to All Might that bothered Izuku, making him think that this man, who couldn't have been much older than Izuku himself, had been the one who destroyed the wall in the first place.
Izuku was knocked out of his thoughts by a random student, and came to his wits as he looked around and remembered the situation that he was in. He spotted a small perch, the piece of wall above the exit of the hallway that the emergency exit sign was on, and threw his hand out in an aiming gesture.
"I'll be back," Izuku said, before releasing Blackwhip at the wall he had chosen.
Izuku pulled himself toward the wall, landing on it and keeping Blackwhip out, hanging off of it like a grappling hook. He waved his free hand in the air, shouting at the students to get their attention. He had to start jumping up and down on his perch to get people to notice him, and when they did, he cleared his throat.
"Hey! You're students at UA! Some of you are hero course students! Pull yourself together. Look outside, and you'll see that this 'invading threat' is just the press who got a little bit too hungry for a story, so they broke the wall. Go to your Homerooms in a manner that represents us as a school," Izuku said, pulling half of what he said from a lecture he had listened to on getting peoples' respect. It had said to use short, sharp sentences, and it seemed to have worked, the student body calmly and quietly moving toward their designated Homerooms.
After he was sure he wasn't going to land on anyone, Izuku pulled Blackwhip back and dropped to the ground, landing more elegantly than he expected to. He stood up and brushed himself off, getting rid of any creases in his uniform that had been formed in his curled up pose on the wall. He looked up to see Shinso and Tsu still watching him.
"'Represent us' huh? You really are accepting it," Shinso said, a smirk on his face.
"Oh, stop," Izuku said, walking toward their Homeroom.
When the three reached the classroom, the class was already filled, Izuku having waited until basically all students had left to get down from his position above. He was met with excited cheers and congratulations for handling the situation the way he did, Iida telling him that he couldn't' have said it better himself, though he doubted that; Iida seemed like a pretty well spoken guy.
Walking to the front, Izuku waved to his classmates.
"Uh, hi. I hope you don't mind, but I would like to say something about my election as the Class Representative," Izuku said, looking at Aizawa in the corner.
"Go ahead," Aizawa said, still in his sleeping bag.
"For most of the day, I've resented your decision. I didn't think that I was fit for the job, but Shinso and Tsu helped me realize that I can do it, and that I should try my best to represent you, even if I don't want to, because it isn't really about me, or any individual anymore. It's about us. Class-1A. We're gonna be like a family for the next three years, so we better start it off with a good first week, right?" Izuku said, smiling brightly to accentuate his message at the end.
The class cheered, and Iida raised his hand.
"Um, Iida? Do you have something to say?" Izuku asked.
"Would everyone like to know the Vice Representative?" Iida asked, and the whole room held their breath. "You'll find the name on the circled name on the sheet on the podium, Midoriya. I'd like you to do the honors," Iida tagged on.
"Oh, okay. Um, congratulations to Yaoyorozu! You're the Vice Representative for Class-1A!" Izuku cheered, reading from the paper in front of him.
Yaoyorozu rose from her seat and walked to join Izuku at the front. She looked to be on the verge of tears, but was managing to keep her emotions down. The class applauded, and under the noise, Izuku took his chance.
"If it means anything, I voted for you to be in my place," Izuku said, leaning closer to Yaoyorozu.
Yaoyorozu didn't say anything in response, simply holding her hand out for Izuku to shake, which he did so gladly. The two shared a bright smile, which they then turned to share with the class. The class erupted into cheers for their representatives, knowing that they had made the right choice with who would represent their needs, wants and ideas.
The day after Izuku's speech, he shuffled past a seething Bakugo. Since the battle training, he had made sure not to make eye contact with the blond, something he could tell Shinso and Tsu appreciated. Izuku patiently waited for All Might to arrive, talking excitedly with Shinso and Yaoyorozu about what Izuku's duties, and Yaoyorozu's by association, entailed. After a few minutes, Aizawa sighed deeply and stood up, packing up his sleeping bag. Izuku knew something was wrong just by that sigh, and turned around to face Aizawa.
"Aizawa, is something wrong?" Izuku asked.
"No. Well, yes, but it isn't an issue for you. We can still proceed with the lesson, we'll just have one less supervisor. It'll be fine," Aizawa said cryptically.
What could Aizawa be talking about? Could it be that All Might had burned through his time limit and had to rest? He had seen him in the news three separate times that morning, so it was likely. What could need three different heroes to supervise? Was it another battle training? Izuku was lucky, as his costume hadn't been too damaged in his first Foundational Heroics lesson, but he has just gotten it back. He didn't want it to be damaged again. It was too special to him.
"Alright, kids. Get ready for some rescue training," Aizawa said, holding up a card that said the word 'TRAINING' in a big, blocky font, with a succinct summary of what the lesson entailed on the other side, which Aizawa promptly threw away.
"For this, you won't need your hero costumes, since some of you may still be unused to them, so feel free to just wear your gym uniform. Meet me in the parking lot in ten minutes," Aizawa droned, before leaving without ceremony.
The students all grabbed their cases anyway, and Izuku couldn't help but feeling Ochaco's absence as he looked at the empty space her seat number's case should be in. He quickly pulled himself together and ran off to the changing rooms, where he quickly dressed himself, now knowing his way around his costume.
"Man," Kaminari groaned. "Some of you guys have some pretty cool stuff on your costumes," he whined.
"Oh, yeah? Like what?" Sero asked, placing the base of his helmet on his shoulders.
"Like Kirishima's head brace. Or Midoriya's knuckle dusters," Kaminari clarified, making Izuku choke in his breath.
"Whoa. Is something wrong, Midoriya?" Kirishima asked, ready to give him the heimlich maneuver if need be.
"Nothing's wrong, it's just that these …" Izuku pointed to the guides for Blackwhip, conveniently lined up with his knuckles. "… aren't knuckle dusters," he finished.
"What are they, then? They really look like knuckle dusters, dude," Sero asked.
"They're guides for my Blackwhip. Sometimes, a bit more power than what I want can leak out, so I need these to strictly regulate the amount of Blackwhip that gets through. It also streamlines the shape of the Blackwhip, helping it latch onto and wrap around things much smoother than the kinda … jagged shape that it comes out as normally," Izuku explained, pulling his cowl over his face.
"Oh, that makes a lot more sense," Sero said, nodding along.
"Does it?" Kaminari asked, snarkily.
"Well, yeah. I'd know; my Quirk works in a similar way," Sero explained himself, and something clicked for Izuku.
Sero's Quirk was virtually the same as Blackwhip, only different by name and the fact that his Tape was sticky. He should've been asking Sero for tips this whole time, but instead, he had been trying to figure things out on his own, and by consulting the notebook that All Might had compiled for him what seemed like months ago. It had been so long since he and All Might had sat down and had a real conversation, and Izuku missed it. He knew that his chance was coming, as the weekend was coming up and All Might probably knew it was the only time the two could talk outside of school hours.
"Hey, Sero!" Izuku called out, trying to catch him before he walked out of the changing rooms.
"Yeah?" Sero replied.
"Could you give me some tips about how to use Blackwhip like you use your Tape?" Izuku asked.
"Uh, yeah. Sure," Sero said, and Izuku hissed out a cheer.
"What do you want to know?" Sero asked, pressing a button and flipping the black part of his helmet up so that Izuku could see his face. Izuku responded in kind by flipping his cowl back over his head.
"Well, I've noticed that you do this little flicking motion with your arms when you want some pieces of Tape to have more impact. Do you think you could teach me?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah, alright. I know that you have a little bit of control over how Blackwhip is shaped, so I can't really help you there, but I'll try to get your firing technique up if I can," Sero said.
"Thanks a lot! I'll really owe you one," Izuku said, smiling widely.
"Nah, it'll be nothing. What kind of classmate and future hero would I be if I didn't help out my buds when I could?" Sero asked rhetorically.
Izuku blushed lightly at the word 'buds'. He hadn't been called that before, and it felt strange. He hadn't been called a lot of things before, like friend, pal, or even 'dude' before attending UA, and now those words were like his name. It was like a whole new status quo was forming right before his eyes, and he didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, he didn't really deal with change very well, but on the other hand, this was a status quo where he had a Quirk, had friends and was living his dream.
He'd take it.