Author's Note:

I really need to set an alert or something. I've written several chapters ahead, I just keep forgetting to post.

Chapter 40: The Draft

"Now that everyone's decided on their hero names, we can go back to talking about your upcoming internships. They start next Wednesday and last for one week, including the weekend. You'll be sleeping in the on-call rooms at the agency and they'll provide you with food and anything else you need. As for who you'll be working with, those of you who were on the board will choose from among your offers. The rest of you will choose one of forty preselected agencies that have agreed to take you on. Whether you have individualized offers or you're selecting from the general pool, keep in mind that most agencies specialize in a specific field, such as rescue, investigation, and villain response. I recommend choosing an agency that fits the type of hero you want to be." Aizawa advised.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, he yawned before reaching into the podium and pulling out a thick stack of paper with small tabs jutting out. "Yaoyorozu and Midoriya will pass these out to you. Each line includes the agency, the rank of the hero you'll be working with, and their general specialization. Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugou, I've taken the liberty of trimming your offers down to combat heroes in the top five hundred and top one hundred heroes from other disciplines. If you want to see your entire offer list, stop by the teacher's lounge after class and we can go over them on the computer. I'm not wasting paper printing all of them out."

Slinging his yellow sleeping bag over his shoulder, Aizawa lackadaisically walked to the door. "Turn in your choices before the weekend."

"We've only got two days?" Sero cried out in alarm.

Turning over his shoulder, Aizawa regarded him emotionlessly. "Yes, which is why I'm dismissing you at 9:30 on a Wednesday. You have plenty of time."

Making my way to the front of the class, I checked over the stack of internship forms, noting that the tabs spaced throughout delineated where each student's individual offers began and ended. Taking the stack of paper in hand, I started towards the door.

"Alright, everybody, we're going on a field trip!" I declared enthusiastically.

Several of my classmates exchanged confused looks, but after only a brief moment, all but Bakugou stood from their seats and began following me out of the classroom.

I only had to walk a few meters down the hall before arriving at my intended destination. Knocking politely on the door, I slid it partially open to peek my head inside. Caught off guard by the sudden intrusion, Vlad King and all of Class 1-B turned to face me.

Oops.

"Sorry to interrupt, Mr Vlad King." I apologized awkwardly.

"It's fine, Midoriya. I was just releasing Class B for the day. Did you need something?" Vlad King asked in his gruff voice.

"With your permission, sir, I was going to ask Kendo and the rest of your class if they wanted to go over our draft results together. I figured it wouldn't hurt to share info. It's also a good opportunity for those who might be heading to the same agency to get to know one another." I replied.

Vlad King hummed thoughtfully before pounding his left palm with his right fist. "That's a good idea, Midoriya."

Walking over to his desk, he tapped a few buttons on a display before grabbing some folders and passing by me on his way out the door.

"I requested for some of those robots Principal Nedzu has rolling around to bring more chairs." He said before looking back over his shoulder. "Kendo, show Class A some hospitality. I don't want to hear from Aizawa that Class B caused trouble."
"Yes, sir!" Kendo acknowledged.

Before he left, Vlad King's eyes narrowed directly at Monoma. "That means you, Monoma."

The boy in question reeled dramatically as if he had been struck. "Mr Vlad, you wound me! I would never do anything to besmirch the honor of our class." He proclaimed earnestly.

Vlad King grumbled skeptically, but turned back down the hall without another word. Chuckling at the display, I shifted my focus to Kendo.

"Are you guys cool with us joining you? We totally understand if you would rather discuss the internships among yourselves." I offered politely.

Shaking her head, Kendo made her way to the front of the class and waved us inside.

"No, we'd love to work with you guys." She assured before casting a glare over her shoulder at Monoma. "Well, most of us, anyway. And anyone who doesn't will behave."

Monoma leaned back in his chair fearfully. "I'll be the picture of decorum, Kendo."

Kendo scoffed at his assurance, but turned back towards me with a smile as the rest of Class 1-A entered the room.

"Mr Vlad said he called for some more chairs, but make yourselves at home. We were just about to go over our offers." She welcomed cheerfully.

Stepping closer to the blackboard to allow my classmates to pass by me, I pulled Iida and Bakugou's offer sheets out of the stack before handing it to Momo. Iida was the last to enter the room, but just as he opened his mouth to speak to me, I cut him off.

"You heading home?" I asked quietly.

"Yes." He confirmed stonily.

Nodding my understanding, I handed him his stack of offers. "Just… Be careful, okay? Don't do anything too reckless, and if you do, don't do it alone. You know I'll be there if you call, no matter the situation." I said meaningfully.

Iida's eyes widened slightly at my implication, but his features quickly hardened once again. "Thank you, Midoriya."

With a small bow, he departed without another word. Sparing a glance back at my class, I noticed Uraraka watching on worriedly. Sparing her a reassuring smile, I stepped out into the hall. As soon as I passed through the door frame, I was forced to jump out of the way as a small column of stubby robots rolled past me, each carrying four folding chairs and vocalizing their displeasure at being forced to ferry items for 'meatbags'.

Seriously, Nedzu. This is why so many people are afraid of you. Then again, I guess that's the point.

"Hey, man." Kirishima said defeatedly, drawing my attention behind me. "I tried talking to Bakugou, but-"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." I reassured him with a pat on the shoulder.

I waited for Kirishima to join the rest of our class before walking back down the hall to where Katsuki was leaning against the wall just outside the 1-A door, his head downcast. The second I offered him his internship forms, Bakugou grabbed them from my hand and began walking down the hall. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I released a heavy sigh before calling out tiredly. To my mild surprise, he actually stopped, but kept his back to me and showed no other indication that he had heard me.

"I assume you're planning to just accept the offer of whoever is ranked highest on your list." I said.

Judging by how Katsuki's shoulders tensed, my assumption had been correct, and I rolled my eyes at the short-sightedness of such a decision.

The guy couldn't be more different from Jeanist, Edgeshot, or Crust. Choosing the highest ranked option isn't always the best choice. In fact, it rarely is.

"I know you're probably just gonna tell me to fuck off, but you know how big of a nerd I am about this shit, so please, just hear me out. All Might and Hawks don't take interns and Endeavor will only have given an offer to Shoto. That leaves Best Jeanist as the next highest ranked, and he probably did send you an offer." Bakugou remained frozen in the middle of the hallway, so I hurriedly continued before he decided he was done listening to me. "I know you only ever really cared about All Might, but I follow Jeanist, too. He's well known for coaching new and prospective heroes in etiquette and public relations. I know it's not my business, but please, if you have any confidence in my knowledge of heroes, believe me when I say that interning with Jeanist would be an absolute nightmare for you. Take the offer from Shishido. I know he'll have sent you one. He's only number fourteen, but you two have a lot in common and he's a great hero. Most importantly, he'll let you be yourself."

Katsuki remained still for several seconds before looking over his shoulder. He studied me for a moment with an unreadable expression before turning back and continuing down the hall without another word.

Well, I tried. He either heeds my advice or he doesn't. Jeanist is a good hero, but he didn't actually change Bakugou at all in canon. Katsuki may have grown to respect Jeanist, but his internship was still little more than a waste of time at the end of the day.

Returning to the 1-B classroom, I found all of the desks pushed against the walls, allowing everyone to form ad hoc clusters of chairs in the center of the room. Most groups consisted of either 1-B or 1-A students exclusively, something that Momo, Kendo, and Shoda appeared to be attempting to rectify.

Stepping up to the podium at the front of the class, I cleared my throat politely, quieting the room and drawing everyone's attention to myself.

"We can split up the groups once we start digging into the internship offers, but for now, don't worry about sticking to your own class. After all, we're pretty much strangers to one another at this point." I began with a kind smile before addressing the 1-B students in particular. "Ask anyone in Class A, and they'll confirm that I'm a bit of a nerd." My smile widened at the titter of agreeing laughter that erupted from several of my classmates. "Fortunately, that means I am familiar with what is, frankly, an embarrassing number of heroes. If you've been sent an individual offer by someone in the top one thousand, I probably know at least a bit about them." I announced to disbelieving and awed mutters from the 1-B students. "I'm also very familiar with the forty agencies that have offered to take any and all interns from our two classes. So if you have any questions, let me know and I'll be more than happy to help you out."

The two classes quickly became absorbed in discussion, and I blinked in surprise when several students began pulling out their cellphones in order to research their options.

Duh. I should have guessed that in real life, most people wouldn't just blindly jump into an internship with a pro they know nothing about.

For the next few hours, I walked between the different groups, answering questions about specific agencies or heroes and occasionally redirecting my peers towards more beneficial choices.

What was Jiro thinking, trying to go to Death Arms? Especially when he isn't even going to take her into the field!

Returning to the front of the class, I grabbed an extra chair and took a seat beside Kendo and Momo, who had placed their own chairs up against the front of Vlad King's desk in order to look out over the rest of the room.

"Hey, Midoriya. Or should I say Midoriya-sensei?" Kendo teased with a smirk, drawing a giggle from Momo.

"Oh God, please no." I groaned, earning more laughter from the two girls.

"Do you know who you're going to intern with, Izuku?" Momo asked.

"Crust is pretty tempting, but I have another pro in mind. Not sure if it'll work out, though." I replied with a shrug. "How about you two?"

Kendo scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment. "We aren't really sure. Uwabami made an offer to both of us, so we were thinking about accepting that one. She's number thirty-six and it would give us a chance to work together as class reps. Neither of us got offers from anyone else ranked in the top fifty."

Both of them appeared somewhat ashamed of that fact, which was understandable given the lofty expectations they had going into the Sports Festival.

This is the canon internship I need to stop the most. Talk about an utter waste of time…

My skepticism must have been apparent, because the two girls exchanged a worried look before Momo tentatively spoke.

"Do you think that's a bad idea? Because of my busy schedule, I don't know much about any hero other than perhaps All Might." She admitted embarrassedly.

"Same for me. I help my parents at our family's dojo, so I don't really have much time to follow pros online." Kendo sympathized.

"Gee, must be nice to have such active social lives. Thanks, guys." I deadpanned.

Kendo and Momo immediately started to apologize, but I cut them off with a laugh, earning faux glares from both for my joke.

"In all seriousness though,-" I began soberly. "Uwabami is… How should I put this?" Putting my hands together, I brought the tips of my fingers to my lips in thought. "Well, she's a bit media obsessed."

"Oh. Well she did extend offers, so she must see potential in us." Momo defended.

"Yeah, I mean, you know heroes better than I do, but she's the thirty-sixth ranked hero in Japan. I doubt she'd just hand out internship offers for no reason." Kendo agreed.

Tilting my head side to side in uncertainty, I pondered how best to phrase what was ultimately a rather insulting truth.

Fuck it, may as well be blunt. I doubt Momo in particular would understand any euphemisms, anyway.

"Uwabami's quirk, Serpentress, is a mutation quirk. The snakes on her head give her a highly elevated sense of smell and taste, but they have almost no real combat capability." I began, directing my words at Kendo.

1-B's class representative furrowed her brow in confusion as to why such a one-dimensional rescue hero would offer an obviously combat oriented student an internship, but I turned my attention to Momo and continued before she could question it aloud.

"She also spends most of her time with commercial pursuits. Modeling, commercials, public appearances, things of that nature. There's a reason why her ranking is mostly propped up by her popularity. Her resolved villain cases number is almost zero, and she only bothers to show up for major emergencies, namely those with significant press coverage. Uwabami is pretty much the poster girl for 'celebrity hero'." I finished, the disapproval clear in my tone.

Kendo was staring down at the internship form in her lap with a puzzled expression, but Momo made one last attempt to justify her tentative selection.

"But if the two of us aren't a good fit, why did she send us offers?" She asked in bewilderment.

I stared blankly at Momo for a moment, my silence causing Kendo to return her attention to the conversation.

"You two are really hot. You'd look good next to her in commercials or modelling shoots." I answered candidly.

Both girls flushed a deep red, but swiftly recovered, embarrassment morphing into indignation.

"Wait, so she just wanted us around so she could use us to sell clothes or something?" Kendo asked in outrage, drawing more than a few curious looks from the other groups nearest us.

"More or less." I confirmed with a shrug.

Kendo looked like she was about to tear her form in half before remembering that her other offers were on the same sheet. Instead, she huffed angrily and crossed her arms in a grousing pout. For her part, Momo just sighed heavily before beginning to go over her options once more. Gesturing towards her form with a questioning look, Kendo merely huffed again before handing the page to me. Perusing the fourteen options listed, I noticed a few that held potential.

"You mentioned that your family runs a dojo, so Gunhead might be a bit redundant for you. I'd recommend the Night Raid Agency. Pumpkin and Power Girl aren't that highly ranked, but they're good heroes and they compliment each other really well. You'd definitely be working more with Power Girl, but that's probably for the best anyway. Pumpkin uses a sniper rifle, which isn't really your thing from what I can tell." I said with a teasing grin.

"Yeah, I prefer to handle things up close and personal." Kendo agreed with a chuckle before accepting her form back from me and pulling out her phone to do some research.

Leaving her to consider my recommendation, I turned back to Yaoyorozu.

"Mind if I take a look at yours, Momo?" I asked.

"Oh, sure." She replied before handing over her list.

Thumbing through the three pages of offers, I immediately dismissed nearly all of them. Yaoyorozu needed a hero agency that would challenge her mentally, and while throwing her into emergency situations would slowly increase her skill through experience, the best way for her to improve would be under a hero who explicitly understood the nature of her quirk.

Fatgum is one of the better options on here. He's smarter than he lets on and Fat Absorption bears some physical similarity to Creation. I frowned slightly. But it's not enough. Momo may not flaunt it, but she has genius level intellect. She needs someone that can keep up with her. I already knew what to do, but an endless war was unfolding within my mind as to whether or not it was the right thing to do. As long as things stay more or less the same up to Kamino Ward, it'll be fine. I can deal with whatever comes after that. I just need All for One off the board.

A hurricane of concrete, metal, and blood flashed before my mind's eye, and my mouth set into a hard frown.

Do I bring in another variable and risk letting things get out of control? Will it even matter by then?

"Izuku, are you okay?" Momo asked gently, pulling me from my thoughts.

Studying her face for a moment, I nodded. "Yeah, I'm alright. Kendo,-" I said, gaining the redhead's attention. "-do you mind babysitting for a bit? Yaoyorozu and I need to stop by the teacher's lounge."

"Yeah, no problem." She agreed, slightly caught off guard by my sudden request.

Rising to my feet, I gestured for Momo to follow after me. Stopping in front of the podium, I called out over the din.

"Alright, 1-A. Yaoyorozu and I need to stop by the teacher's lounge. Kendo is in charge, so behave, or I'll toss you off the roof when we get back." I announced, earning laughter from most of the 1-B students and a smack in the arm from Momo.

Rolling my eyes, I raised my hands in surrender. "Fine, I'll throw you out the first floor window."

"That's not better!" Momo hissed quietly from beside me as the 1-B students broke out into even greater laughter at my classmates' expense.

Flashing a bright smile, I turned to leave, waving a hand over my head. "Have fun, kids!"

Striding down the hallway, Momo hurriedly caught up with me.

"Izuku, you can't just threaten to throw our classmates out the window." She chastised.

"I'm obviously not going to actually throw them out the window, Momo. Well, maybe Mineta. You saw him creeping on Yanagi and Kodai." I said with a sneer.

Momo sighed heavily, but didn't argue the point further. A few seconds later, she broke the brief silence that had fallen over us.

"Izuku, why are we going to the teacher's lounge?" She enquired bemusedly.

"You had some decent offers, but there's one hero I have in mind who I think can really help you. I don't know if he'll take you on, but-"

"Wait, but they didn't send me an offer? I can't just demand that they offer me an internship!" Momo interrupted in distress.

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly at her strict adherence to the rules, making sure to turn my head so that she didn't notice and mistake it for annoyance.

"We aren't demanding anything. He's a friend of All Might's, All Might is a friend of mine, and I'm a friend of yours. We're just networking." I reassured her with a chuckle.

Momo didn't seem particularly convinced, and she started to nervously ring her hands as we finished the short journey through the school. Arriving at our destination, I knocked politely on the door. Once we received permission, the two of us entered the long, rectangular room. Noticing our unexpected arrival, Aizawa immediately perked up at his desk, his eyes widening in a humorous mixture of concern and irritation.

"What happened?" He asked cynically.

Laughing at his admittedly justified assumption that something was wrong, I flashed our teacher a bright smile. "Everything's fine, Mr Aizawa. Kendo is watching over the class. Yaoyorozu and I stopped by to talk to All Might."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes at me as though he doubted my assurance that all was well, but after a brief pause, he returned to whatever task he had been working on and waved vaguely over his shoulder at All Might, who was already making his way down the aisle towards us in his muscle form.

"Young Midoriya, young Yaoyorozu. What can I do for you two?" He asked kindly.

"Hey, All Might." I greeted brightly. "So, I know the perfect internship spot for Yaoyorozu, but the agency in question didn't make her an offer. I don't know if that's because he isn't actively looking for an intern or if he just doesn't know the extent of Yaoyorozu's quirk, but I know he'll be interested if he talks to her."

All Might brought a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "I see. Young Yaoyorozu's quirk is certainly more than meets the eye. Which hero were you thinking of?"
Here we go…

Giving him an apologetic smile, I ripped the band aid off in one go. "Nighteye."

My mentor's eyes widened comically before he looked away in discomfort, his unflappable smile flagging somewhat.

"Mr All Might, sir, please don't worry about it. I don't want to inconvenience you at-" Momo rattled off in panic.

Waving a hand dismissively in order to calm her, All Might awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "No, it's not that at all. It's just that, well…"

"I know you two aren't really talking much right now,-" I began gently, ignoring Momo's scandalized look from me interrupting the Symbol of Peace. "-and I didn't want you to speak to him so much as I was hoping you'd have some way for us to contact him ourselves. Or maybe there's someone else who could introduce us."

All Might considered my request for a moment before turning to look further down the aisle. "Snipe, young Togata does his work-study with the Nighteye Agency, doesn't he?"

Walking over to join us, Snipe nodded in the affirmative. "He sure does. Are you two looking to talk to him about it?"

"Yes, sir. I think Sir Nighteye would be great for Yaoyorozu and I think she could bring a lot to his agency." I confirmed.

Momo blushed softly at the praise, but at Snipe's questioning look she nodded her assent.

"Alright, follow me." Snipe instructed.

Bidding All Might and Mr Aizawa our goodbyes, we followed our escort through the school for several minutes before arriving at the 3-B classroom. Snipe stepped inside and after no more than a few seconds of waiting, reemerged with Togata in tow.

"Hey! Midoriya, right?" The upperclassman greeted.

Huh. He's a lot shorter than I expected.

Snapping out of my daze, I nodded and gestured to Momo beside me. "Yep, that's me, and this is Momo Yaoyorozu, Class 1-A's class representative."

Momo bowed respectfully and Mirio responded in kind.

"Mr Snipe said you guys had a question for me? What can I do for ya?" He asked happily.

His cheerfulness was infectious, and I smiled widely at him before explaining. "Yaoyorozu has a quirk that requires near instantaneous mental processing and situational analysis. We wanted to ask if you could arrange a meeting with Sir Nighteye to discuss a potential internship for her…"

My words trailed off as before I even finished, Togata had fished his phone out of his pocket and began tapping away. Holding the phone up to his ear, he smiled at us and flashed Momo a thumbs up.

"Hey, Sir! You remember that Izuku Midoriya kid you're always talking about? He's here with me now, and he thinks his friend would be a really good fit as your intern." He chatted happily into the phone as Momo and I stared at him in wide-eyed disbelief.

I didn't think he'd just call him here and now!

I vaguely noticed Snipe sigh and run a hand over his gas mask out of the corner of my eye, but my focus remained fixated on Mirio as he laughed boisterously at something Nighteye said on the other side of the phone.

Why do I doubt that Nighteye made a joke just now…

"Uh huh. Okay, sure. Yep, sounds good to me!" Togata continued jovially before abruptly holding out his phone to me. "Sir wants to talk to you!" He said with a smile.

Returning Mirio's smile with a weak one of my own, I accepted the proffered device.

"Hello, Sir. This is Izuku Midoriya." I greeted, attempting to inject as much enthusiasm into my voice as possible.

The line remained silent for several agonizingly long seconds before All Might's former sidekick responded, his clipped tone showing no sign of the humor that had apparently made Mirio laugh not even a minute prior.

"Yes, the successor..."

Author's Note:

I'm sure many of you who are familiar with Akame ga kill recognize the Night Raid and Pumpkin reference. The only reason I did that is because the nameless agency that Kendo (and Yanagi) are shown with for one brief instant in the anime has a hero that vaguely reminds me of Mine, but with a mask and without the pink hair. I just decided to roll with that and create a character. Kendo's internship won't be shown at all so it is nothing more than some world building.

Moving on to Momo, my decision to reach out to Nighteye is the first big change I've made to the timeline. While students don't have to do their work-studies with the same hero they interned with, there's still inherent risk involved with making changes in regards to anything that involves Overhaul. The dude is really fricking dangerous. I'd rather keep everyone else away from that lunatic. That said, Nighteye can help Momo better than any other hero I know of, and since this change (if Nighteye even agrees to take her on) shouldn't change anything in regards to All for One's defeat, I decide to go ahead and pull the trigger.