Red eyes. A vile laugh. White hair. Pale hands. A hyper-mutated arm bearing down on him, ready to either snatch his Quirk away from him or turn him to ash in a single touch. Those were the things that Izuku saw and heard in his dreams, though it would be more appropriate to call them nightmares. It had been two months since Kamino, but he was still having them near-nightly, having to explain away the noises he made while struggling in his sleep as 'white noise' to his neighbours in the dorms. That was getting a little difficult, though, as he was starting to wake up screaming. Case in point, on a late September morning, he was woken up by his own pathetic whining, sweating buckets and looking around wildly as if he was in danger.
The sun had risen, which meant that Izuku would be better off not even bothering with more sleep. Luckily, it was Sunday, so he could do whatever he wanted, including lie in bed all day and not leave the comfort of his sheets, but then he realised that it was Sunday, and he himself had called the class to a meeting that morning, to figure out what they were going to do for the school festival. Sometimes, just sometimes, Izuku hated being such an organiser. He rolled over in bed to check the time on his alarm clock, and saw that it was already eight in the morning, and so decided that it would be better to just shake it off and go about his day, rather than sit in his roam and fester until he had to go down in about an hour or two anyway.
Sighing, Izuku went through his morning routine. He showered and changed, brushed his teeth, and didn't even pretend to hate that the white streak in his hair was getting more prominent, as it now took up a good quarter of his hair, beginning at his left temple and going all the way to his tips. Ithadgrown far too quickly for his liking, however, fast enough that some people in Class-B, Monoma specifically, thought he was dyeing it, but he didn't care about the people who'd disparage him for that, even if he was using dye. He could do what he wanted, and nobody was getting in the way of his happiness anymore. Not All for One, not the Vanguard, and especially not Katsuki, who'd been behaving himself. Izuku finished cleaning himself up from his restless sleep and then left his room for some breakfast.
Izuku chose to take the stairs down to the common area. It had been a while since he'd gotten a good workout in due to the ban Recovery Girl had put on it during his recovery from the injuries he'd gotten during the summer, but now that he was cleared and had been given permission to start practical training with everyone again, Izuku was more excited than ever to get back into the swing of all things heroic. That did mean, however, that he'd been barred from using any of his Quirks in any capacity, not even the safe ones, like Smokescreen, so he'd have to start his training by getting used to them again. Izuku was glad that he didn't actually know how to turn Danger Sense off, because even if it didn't work on anyone at UA, since they'd never hurt him, it had kept him from tripping over more times than he'd like to admit. Nevertheless, Izuku was ready and raring to go for the upcoming school week, even if he would have to put a lot of his energy into this school festival thing, which the class still didn't know their angle for.
That was the whole purpose of the class meeting he'd called for this morning, to find and stick with an idea for their showing at the festival. Izuku ran through the ideas brought up during yesterday's homeroom and thought about which ones he wanted to keep as possible picks, and which ones he wanted to throw out entirely. Kaminari's 'maid cafe' idea was out immediately, as was Yaoyorozu's 'study party'. Tsu's 'frog choir' was something that Izuku didn't know how to manage and he didn't want to find out, and a 'mad banquet of darkness' was probably a little too edgy for something meant to relax and entertain, so Tokoyami's idea was out. Aoyama's 'very own sparkling show' was … very Aoyama, but knowing Aoyama, it would also be veryexpensivewith all the glitter he'd inevitably request, though judging by his room, he may have been able to supply it all himself. A deathmatch was a no-brainer for similar reasons to the mad banquet of darkness, so Katsuki's suggestion was never on the table to begin with. That left eleven options to choose from, though Izuku was very much open to more coming in at this meeting.
Exiting the stairwell and stepping into the wide-open space on the first floor, which contained the common area and the kitchen, had Izuku running into Hitoshi, who was walking out of the elevator at the same time. Hitoshi waved lazily to Izuku, who waved back with a little more energy, and the two began to walk alongside each other in a comfortable silence. Hitoshi didn't look very well rested, but he never really did, so it was business as usual. Izuku still did feel the need to ask, so he did.
"How'd you sleep?"
"Very funny," Hitoshi responded, his voice catching in his throat and forcing him to clear his throat.
"Hey, don't be like that. I trust that this is just the regular insomnia, and not anything else," Izuku said with a laugh and a sly smirk.
"What do you — oh, come on! I thought you were the innocent one," Hitoshi groaned, covering his eyes with one of his hands as he tilted his head up to the ceiling.
"What?" Izuku asked, his smile twisting into a baffled frown.
Hitoshi stared at him for a moment, but said, "Seriously?" Izuku looked at him and shrugged, evidently missing whatever Hitoshi meant. "You just … you just made a sex joke."
"What?" Izuku asked, a horror-stricken tension rippling through his body. "I'm talking about video games!What are you talking about?"
"You've gotta be fucking with me. This has to be a weirdgotchaor something. When'd you getmean, dude?" Hitoshi said with a smile in his voice as well, shoving Izuku by the shoulder as they entered the kitchen.
"Ha! Nowthat'sfunny. I'll believe it when I see it, though," a voice said from the other side of the kitchen, causing Izuku to look and see that it was Ochako. Izuku smiled even wider and laughed, equal parts embarrassed and perplexed.
Izuku decided that he was done with teasing Hitoshi, even if the source of his anguish came from a misunderstanding, and approached the part of the kitchen where they kept the cereal. He pulled out a box and retrieved a bowl, and walked over to get some milk from the fridge. Ochako and Hitoshi started a conversation about something, but Izuku wasn't paying total attention. He continued making his breakfast in peace and poured all of the contents into his bowl, pulling a spoon from the drawers as he went. He put the cereal and milk away before picking up his bowl and taking a seat at the kitchen island, the same island that Hitoshi and Ochako were bickering over. He picked up his spoon and started eating his breakfast as he tuned back into the conversation, though it was quickly becoming an argument.
"You're wrong," Hitoshi said plainly.
"How's that?" Ochako asked, her voice rising in pitch.
"Oh, it's simple. Nobody likes mochi," he replied, earning a slight squeaking objection from Ochako. "In fact, if you do, you're a weirdo who probably has to wear mittens to sleep or something," he continued, making Ochako screech louder in abject offence.
"Alright, mister! First of all, I'm not considering food opinions from a guy who lives off of five hour energy cans," Ochako said, holding up a finger.
"Rude; I have a medical condition, so now you're ableist. Take that, idiot."
"Second, you're the last person who should be talking about Quirk side-effects,Mr. Mind Control Keeps Me Up At Night." Ochako put another finger up.
"Alright, valid," Hitoshi muttered.
"Third, mochi is the best and if you don't like it, then you must have no warmth in your cold, dead heart!" she said, putting a third finger up.
"My achy, breaky heart?" Hitoshi asked with a smug grin on his face.
"Fourth, I hate you," Ochako said while laughing at his jokes.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Hitoshi sighed with a more genuine looking smile.
Izuku kept quiet and just listened to the two of them argue. It was nice to just listen sometimes. Izuku knew that, even if it sounded like they were fighting, the two of them were very aware of how much they enjoyed their little back-and-forths. Hitoshi was an uncontrollable pot-stirrer, and Ochako didn't really have a filter, and so they could really get going when they felt like it. Ochako knew how he was, though, and rarely took it seriously, just seeing their arguments as their way to have fun. Izuku liked to listen to them bicker when it was just about trivial stuff, like their favourite foods, because it felt good to be surrounded by people who liked him and it reaffirmed in his mind that he was in a better place now. Hopefully, getting back into training would prove to solidify that feeling.
"Izuku, what are your thoughts?" Ochako asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"I still don't know what exactly you're talking about. How did mochi come up?" Izuku asked with a laugh.
"I think our festival event should be a mochi stand!" she said.
"Oh, yeah. You said that yesterday, right?" Izuku said before taking another spoonful of his breakfast.
"Uh-huh! I think it could be really fun!" Ochako beamed at him.
'"Right, I'll be sure to bring that up later, during the meeting," Izuku said, making himself smile back at her, which she unfortunately noticed.
"Are you okay?" she asked, sitting down next to him and shooting Hitoshi a look.
"Yeah, it's just the festival. This is important," Izuku admitted.
"Yeah, duh," Hitoshi said with a sarcastic tone.
"Not like that. It's important tome. I just … I feel like so much has happened this year, and most of it was because of me — and I know that I'm not to blame, but everyone moving into the dorms was caused by the stuff that happened at camp, which was targeted at me," Izuku said, tacking on the latter part of his admission after Ochako went to reassure him, like she always did.
"I guess that's true, but you shouldn't let it get you down! Everyone made it out, after all!" Ochako said, putting on a chipper voice.
"Yeah, but it isn't just me that's feeling bad about all of this. Don't you see it when you're walking to and from class? The other kids, the kids that weren't there at camp; they blame us. They blame me, and I can't help but think that they're partially right to," Izuku explained.
"Yeah, I get what you're saying. I've been on the receiving end of some nasty looks lately. I mean, I can't say I blame them. From their perspectives,theyhad to leave their families becausewecouldn't hack it. They're well within their rights to hold a grudge, I'd say, but I think we're well within ours to not give a shit," Hitoshi said in his own very colourful way of being supportive.
"Sure. I do still want this to be something big, though. Even if I don't exactly owe anybody anything, I do want to make them feel better anyway I can. So, to do that, we need something big for this festival. Hopefully, this class meeting will help us come up with a plan," Izuku said.
"You don't sound too thrilled to be having a class meeting," Hitoshi noted.
"Hmm. I don't suppose you'd have a cure for being the most awkward public speaker and group leader ever, would you?" Izuku asked.
"Not that I know of, but think about it like this — if you bomb and say something dumb, it'll make my heart happy," Hitoshi said with a lopsided grin, making Ochako chuckle under her breath despite trying to conceal it behind her hand.
"Gee, whatsupportivefriends I have. Come on out to the lounge, the meeting's about to start any minute anyway," Izuku said, already up and walking over to the collection of sofas and couches set up in the common area.
The three of them settled in the common room quickly. Izuku sighed as he thought about how exactly he was going to get a class of seventeen other people to agree on one thing when they were all proud enough to think that their ideas deserved to be picked. At least he'd whittled down the list beforehand somewhat, but it would still be quite the task. Soon enough, though, people began to trickle in from upstairs. First was a group consisting of Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero, who were laughing at something that one of them had said and sitting in a cluster on one of the sofas. The second cluster was Jiro and Yaoyorozu, who were seemingly deep in conversation about the homework they'd received yesterday from Midnight. The third cluster was Shoji, Tokoyami and, puzzlingly, Ojiro, who was silent while the other two boys spoke of some manga that Tokoyami was reading. The fourth and final cluster consisted of Tsu, Ashido and Hagakure, arm in arm as they came in from the elevator. The rest of Izuku's classmates, such as Todoroki, Katsuki, Koda and Sato, filtered in after that, Katsuki looking irritated to exist and Todoroki seeming to be in his own world entirely. When the last person arrived, which was naturally Katsuki, Izuku began to clear his throat and look between his classmates and friends with a prickling feeling forming on the back of his neck. He hadn't actually led the class in a very long time, so he was probably rusty, but he was the class rep, so he was the one who did all this stuff.
"Uh, thanks for coming, everyone. I think we're comfortable with admitting that we didn't exactly get anywhere yesterday in regards to the school festival, so that's what we're gonna discuss today. We narrowed down a few ideas already, but does anybodyreally likeany of the ideas from yesterday?" Izuku said.
"I liked the dancing thing!" Hagakure said immediately, clearly in support of Ashido, whose idea it was, and also who she was still intertwined with by the elbows.
"A cafe could be fun," Kaminari casually said.
"I actually dig the dance performance," Jiro muttered, so low that Izuku almost didn't hear her.
"Jiro and I vote for a dance!" Yaoyorozu said with a smile, causing Jiro to suddenly look panicked and hide herself in her sweater.
"Hey, yeah, that could be cool!" Sero chimed in.
Slowly, many in the class began to voice their support of the dance performance. Some surprised Izuku, such as Kirishima and Tsu, but some were just on brand, such as the person to bring it to the table, Ashido. Soon enough, the majority had decided that they liked or didn't activelydislikethe idea, and Izuku couldn't say that he disagreed with the popular notion that it would be a good idea. He didn't exactly listen to a lot of music, and he wasn't one to attend a live dance performance in his free time, but he was willing to find out if there was even a part of him that enjoyed such things. After a few minutes, it seemed that they'd come to a decision, with the only person still going full throttle for their own idea was Katsuki, who began to espouse the benefits of a death match on UA property.
"It sounds like we're in agreement then," Izuku yelled over Katsuki, which got him to stop screaming about killing for once. "A dance it is! That does leave the question of what we're doing about music, though, and there's other management stuff that needs to be done by myself and Yaoyorozu, but other than that, I think we're good."
"Ooh! Ooh! I think Jiro should bring the music!" Ashido, positivelyshakingin her seat at the news.
"What?" Jiro asked, coming out of her sweater-shell.
"We could even play live music with our own band!" Hagakure cheered.
"Oh, yeah! You're all about that stuff, right?" Kaminari asked from where he was laying across three or four other boys.
"I mean … kinda, but—" Jiro tried to say, but was cut off by an enthusiastic whoop from Kaminari, who suddenly rolled off of his buddies and all but skipped over onto a bean bag next to Jiro and threw an arm around her shoulder.
"Then there's no reason to refuse! It'll be so cool to hear you perform for real!" he said, gesturing with his fingers like a microphone and grinning broadly.
"I guess," Jiro said, shrinking into herself and smiling shyly. "But we don't even know if anyone else plays an instrument. A one-man band can work, but I don't think I'm up for that."
"I'm sure we'll work it out! Right?" Kaminari said, turning to the rest of the class for affirmation.
"I've been playing piano since I was six. Will that suffice?" Yaoyorozu asked with a tone in her voice that caused Izuku to question if she heard herself when she spoke.
"Wha — yeah, of course!" Jiro said with a bewildered expression. "That'll more than suffice."
Izuku wondered for a moment about what instrument would suit some of the more eccentric members of their class, since a piano was so in-character for the pure innocent class of Momo Yaoyorozu. Then, he remembered something that made him suppress a cheeky smile at the possibility. He didn't want to out him like that, though, even if it would be funny. He wanted to be nice, and so wouldn't do something so outwardly teasing like that. The thought did make him chuckle, though.
"I'm able to play guitar to a degree, though I'm quite a bit out of practise," Tokoyami said, raising his hand alongside Dark Shadow's. Those two had been more in-sync lately, mostly because Tokoyami now needed Dark Shadow tosee, but also because he'd given the sentient Quirk more time to do its own thing. Or —herown thing, rather, since Dark Shadow had to be constantly present now in order for Tokoyami to see, and was claiming more personhood as a result of that extra time being alive, for lack of a better term. Izuku was still getting used to that, but he thought he was getting better.
"I could give you a refresher course. I could probably do that for most people who need it," Jiro said, who was slowly but surely becoming less and less embarrassed and more enthusiastic about the prospect.
A few more people presented themselves as variously skilled at a variety of instruments. Aoyama volunteered for vocals but was soundly defeated by the assertion from Kaminari, which was quickly echoed by Hagakure and Ashido, that Jiro was automatically and undeniably perfect for the spot. Jiro then roped Kaminari into it by demanding that he be on guitar with Tokoyami if she has to be on lead vocals, which he gladly took because it meant that he got to hear Jiro say he was good at something. Within a few minutes, they had their band, with Jiro on lead vocals, Kaminari on guitar and Tokoyami on bass, with Yaoyorozu on the keyboard, which everyone seemed to be more or less satisfied with. However, there was one thing that they were missing before they could continue.
"Wait, we need someone on drums," Jiro said as Kaminari was loudly celebrating getting his way.
There was a brief silence that swept over the class. It didn't seem that anybody had any experience with the drums, and nobody volunteered for the spot, so the conversation very briefly collapsed into a bout of meeting the eyes of someone each student thought would be suited to the instrument. Then, without the cover of a discussion to hide it, Izuku snickered again, and all eyes turned to him to see if he was going to volunteer. To their surprise, Izuku was smiling as he twiddled his thumbs together and fought to keep the smile off his face at some unseen thing. Then, when the class realised that he was looking at something instead of simply staring off into the middle distance in thought, they traced his eyeline to see none other thanKatsuki Bakugostanding at the edges of the class, pointedly glaring out the window and clearly pretending not to be hearing the conversation and Izuku's giggling. Suddenly, he could no longer ignore the muffled chuckles of his class president, and lashed out.
"Cram it, Deku! Don't you put that shit on me!" he said, his voice a different kind of hoarse than his regular growl.
"You're joking!" Hitoshi cackled, seemingly putting something together as he let out a mad laugh.
"Bakugo, do you play drums?" Jiro asked alongside the most energetic movement Izuku had ever seen her pull off as she stood up.
"I'm not joining in your damn song and dance!" Katsuki yelled instead of answering the question.
"But you're the only one who can!" Jiro said, stepping over what she needed to in order to reach Katsuki, standing in front of him with a hesitant smile on her face. He simply scowled at her.
"Every student's participation ismandatory, too, so you're gonna have to join the song and dancesomehow," Izuku helpfully supplied from his comfortably distant place on the sofa.
"Abso—fucking—lutely not. Who do you think I am? I'm not a musician, Earlobes, so don't bother," Katsuki said, glaring daggers at Izuku over Jiro's head as he refused to engage with her.
"You don'thaveto be a musician. You just have to know how to play. Do you?" she asked, jumping up to force him to look at her.
Katsuki finally relented and made eye contact with Jiro, staring at her with those sharp eyes that used to intimidate Izuku to the point of completely shutting down. He watched Jiro meet that stare with her own, her jacks lifting up and hovering around her head in an imitation of a boxer limbering up their arms. It was actually kind of humorous to see from Izuku's current angle, and wondered if he would've found it as amusing if he were a bystander to some other kid's torment back in middle-school, like everyone else seemed to have with himself. Izuku frowned at that …strange, rather unprompted thought. That was a thought to unpack later, as they were still having a class discussion, so Izuku chose to distract himself with the noise from the argument still ongoing across the room from him.
"Yes," Katsuki said, gritting his teeth as though it was painful to admit.
"Man, forget Bakugo. Midoriya was probably just talking him up; he's the sort. We'll just find someone who'sactuallygame to do it," Kaminari said, casually walking past Katsuki with a lopsided grin stretching across his face.
That, apparently, was simultaneously the right and wrong thing to say to an on-edge Katsuki Bakugo.
"Are you saying I'm not game?" Katsuki asked, staring in shock at Kaminari, who continued to smirk at him with the smug atmosphere of someone who knew they'd just won.
"Areyou?" Kaminari asked in return, sceptically raising his eyebrows.
"You know I'm game for anything this school can throw at me, Pikachu!" Katsuki bellowed, pointing at Kaminari with a twitching finger.
"So you're cool on drums?" Jiro asked with a wide smile, stepping around and putting herself in Katsuki's eyeline once again.
Katsuki made a noise of indignation, as if he didn't believe that he'd been turned around to put words in his own mouth. Hitoshi laughed the whole time, deriving an almost worrying amount of joy from Katsuki's inner turmoil at the way the discussion was turning out for him. Izuku let himself indulge in a few quick giggles at his old friend's expense, and he saw Ochako lean back and watch the admittedly satisfying sight of Katsuki working himself up and tricking himself into agreeing to play in their band.
Eventually, Izuku felt a nudge in his left side, and looked over to see Hitoshi grinning up at the ceiling with his eyes closed and a content smile painted on his face after his laughing fit.
"What's up?" Izuku asked, looking at him with a furrowed brow.
"Why'd you go and work yourself up about this? It's fine,great, even! Look at them, it practically workeditselfout, didn't it?" Hitoshi said.
"I guess so. I think I just overthink it," Izuku admitted, sighing heavily.
"I don't think you'd beyouif you thought about things a normal amount," Hitoshi said with a quick laugh.
"That's also true," Izuku said, smiling sheepishly.
Hitoshi was right. Once Izuku had done the easy thing by making sure everyone was in the same room at the same time, they took care of it by themselves. He really had to stop making himself so worried about social stuff if he was going to keep leading the class until March, and that's if he wasn'tre-elected. He hoped not, but he couldn't count on the universe giving him what he wanted without a fight. It was actually good that he got a hold on the discussion early, since now they had a whole month to prepare for what was sure to be a complicated affair if Ashido was involved, which Izuku could gather was indeed going to be a factor from the side-conversation happening about who would be leading the rest of the class in the dance part of the performance. This was going to be a long month, but he'd probably be fine. After all, he had nothing else to worry about at the moment, so he could give his whole mind to this and give his maximum effort into making this the best event to ever be held at a school festival.