Summary:

Class 3 A starts interviews with the Media Management class, not even a day into the interviews several students receive phone calls.

Punch, kick, dodge. Ignore the management course students setting up equipment in the corner of Gym Gamma. Izuku's thoughts went back to homeroom, when Aizawa-sensei had announced theprojectof theirs. The management course was split into three classes; agency management, law, and media. Half of the media class was supposed to be working on their class for this project, which meant that for this week they were to film and interview all of class A. Next week, the week of the sport's festival, they were to edit their videos as promotional videos for all of class A.

While the main group of them were setting up the interview area two more were filming the class as they sparred, one off to side controlling a few drones. Izuku really should have been paying more attention to his fight as Ojiro's tail whipped around and slammed him out of the ring.

"You okay, Midoriya?"

"I'm good, they're just a bit distracting."

Ojiro nodded in understanding as a drone flew past, and they continued their sparring. The drones were a bit much, but Izuku understood the need for them. When most of the media class refused to work with their class, they had limited people to work the cameras, luckily they had someone whose quirk allowed them to control small electronics.

He heard Aizawa's whistle, signaling they were allowed to use their quirks, and two things happened in the ring next to them. There was the expected explosion from Bakugo, and the unexpected sound of a fire extinguisher going off. They both stopped to look over and saw Bakugo standing there stunned, completely covered in white foam, Yaoyorozu with both her hands pointed towards him, equally stunned.

Bakugo wiped the foam off of his face, and with a grin he began his attack again, without his quirk. Yaoyorozu dodged his first attack and pointed her hands at him. Izuku saw the nozzle of a fire hose appear, then watched as a highly pressurized stream of water came from it and drenched Bakugo. The surprise of the attack forced him out of the ring.

"Yaoyorozu," Izuku called out as he walked over into the other ring, Bakugo leaving, fuming about his need to dry off. "That was creative, what made you think of doing that?"

"I wasn't really thinking, it was more instinct than anything." She blushed a bit as Izuku held out his hand to see hers. He studied her palm, the nozzle looked somewhat unnatural coming out of her palm. "I was forming the fire suppressant and had just started on the container when Sensei blew the whistle. I just redirected where it was going to come from and released it."

Izuku was sitting at one of the tables in the common room, adding new information to his notebooks, when the calls came in. First was Sero's phone, answering with a cheerful 'Hey, Ma,' seeing as it was a personal call he began to tune it out.

Then Iida's phone went off, a quiet conversation that he tuned out as well. Everything was calm until Sero stood straight up, his knuckles white as he clutched his phone. Then Iida stiffened, his face frozen in disbelief.

Everyone jumped, heads snapping over to the sound of Jiro's phone going off.

Quickly she answered, "Mom?" there was a man yelling on the other end almost drowned by the sound of alarms. "Dad? Why do you have Mom's phone" Izuku could only make out a few words, studio and bus, but Jiro, with her quirk, could obviously make out more. Not even a minute later she was lowering the phone, tears streaming down her face.

"Jiro?" Uraraka's voice came from beside Izuku as she stood and walked over to her, wrapping her arms around her frozen form.

"M-my mom… They were l-leaving the st-studio… A b-bus…" The rest was lost as she buried her face in Uraraka's abdomen. Whispers were exchanged between the two. Uraraka straightened up and looked over the common space.

"Her parents were leaving their recording studio when a bus flipped into the front of the building. They're still trying to dig her mother out."

"My Ma and sister were on that bus…" Sero's voice wastoocalm.

"My brother and mother were on the bus as well." Iida's voice was empty of his usual authority, which was now found in Uraraka's voice.

"Iida, Sero, you two try to find out where they're taking everyone. Momo, can you please make some tea for Jiro, she needs it. I'll call Aizawa-sensei so he isn't getting a dozen calls at once." There were nods from everyone as calm, practiced actions happened. Phone calls were made, someone had put a blanket around Jiro's shaking shoulders, and tea was passed out to the three classmates whose families were hurt.

Jiro left that night to be with her mother, Sero and Iida leaving as well to be with their families. The boys returned shortly after curfew. Jiro had stayed overnight with Present Mic's supervision and hadn't made it back yet, and it was already early afternoon. Luckily it was their day off so she didn't miss any class, but the mood stayed the same, even with the management class doing their interviews. Izuku watched as his class was interview one by one, and from the order they were going by their class numbers.

Tired of waiting, and feeling somewhat restless Izuku decided to go to gym Gamma to get some training in before the sports festival next week. When he got there he wasn't surprised at all to see several students already there. The few first years were on the edges of the gym watching their upperclassmen in awe. The few second years were split between watching their upperclassmen or doing light sparing themselves. In the middle of the gym were Uraraka and Mina going up against Iida and Sero. After asking several underclassmen he put together that Iida and Sero had been one of the first ones in the gym this morning. After watching what was obviously a stress outlet fight, he calmly walked up to the group. They didn't even notice him until he cleared his throat, the four of the stopping abruptly and turning to look at him. Iida and Sero were both shaking while the girls looked barely winded.

"Uraraka, Mina, back the underclassmen away. Iida, Sero, get ready." The girls quickly moved the underclassmen back as far as they could, meanwhile Izuku began to slowly circle the two. Assessing their condition. Iida looked rougher than normal with his hair damp with sweat, sweat dripping down his face and his shirt was soaked, his pants were slightly singed near his engines, a sign of him overusing his quirk. Sero was in the same shape, he was even holding his arms slightly away from his torso, his elbows looked slightly raw, from overusing his quirk no doubt.

Iida rushed in first, slightly slower than normal, aiming a kick at Izuku's shoulder. He easily sidestepped, then ducked to avoid Sero's tape. He swung his leg out to hit Iida's calf, with a grunt Iida went down on one knee, but hunched forward so Sero could use his back to get airborne. Tape was dispensed and it wrapped around the arm he threw up to block it, and he gripped it with both hands andpulled. With a surprised yelp Sero was pulled towards him, and the air was knocked out of him as Izuku thrust his knee into his gut. He went down with a pained groan, clutching his stomach.

Izuku ripped the tape off his arm and turned to Iida, still on one knee. They held eye contact for a tense moment, before the blue haired one bowed his head in defeat.

"I'm disappointed in you both." Izuku's voice loud in the quite gym. "Is this the example you want to set for them," he waved his arm out towards the underclassmen on either side of the gym. "To work themselves to the point of exhaustion right before an event that will determine their future?"

"It was our families," Sero wheezed as he sat up, but Izuku never took his eyes off Iida, who was still looking at the ground.

"Yes, your families got injured. Everyone on that bus was someone's family, but are they out there rioting in the streets? No, because they have faith in the heroes, heroes who caught the villain responsible. As a whole, our class knows better than to act recklessly, like staying in the gym training for hours on end without a break. You, Iida, should know better than to be so reckless."

"How do we know that they caught everyone?" Iida's voice was raw. "How do we know this isn't part of some bigger plan."

"We don't. Seeing as everything was a coincidence it couldn't have been planned. Sero, your family missed their usual bus, so they had to take the next one that came by. Jiro's parents went into work on their day off to grab paperwork they forgot. Iida, your family was returning from a doctor appointment that got out early and took the bus. Everything was chance."Was it really?Izuku thought as he crossed his arms. "I know this is stressful for you both, but you need to find an outlet that doesn't involve hurting yourselves or others. Did you two really send several second years to Recovery Girl?" They both hung their heads in shame. "I want you both to go clean up, then go and apologize to Recovery Girl for having to treat them and yourselves. Then you will eat and stay in the dorms the rest of the day so someone can keep an eye on you."

Iida started to protest about the last request, "Do I need to go to Aizawa?"

"No," they both muttered as they got up and made their way to the locker room, Izuku shaking his head as he continues with his day.

Iris takes a sip of her drink as she stares at the screen, going over her latest interview. It was with the tired beanpole of a student with lavender hair. Hitoshi Shinso, she faintly remembers him starting in General studies before moving to the hero course in his second year. Looking at the bags under his eyes he needs sleep more than the coffee he was drinking during the interview. She checked the list of remaining students and saw two names, Kyouka Jiro and Izuku Midoriya. Jiro was out for a family emergency and Shinso said he would send Midoriya in as soon as he found him. Midoriya, why did that name sound familiar? A streak of deep blueish purple hair enters her vision as she turns to her classmate. "Who is Midoriya?"

"He's just the person that most of the hero course listens to and respects. Why?"

"What is his hero name?"

"Deku I believe."

"Deku… Ha! Who in their right mind would pick a hero name meaning useless?" They both flinched when someone cleared their throat behind them. Iris turned and saw him standing there, tall and lithe with broad shoulders, arms crossed over his chest. Green curls with an undercut, green eyes that just looked done with the day.

"Deku… Ha! Who in their right mind would pick a hero name meaning useless?" Izuku crossed his arms as he cleared his throat, two pairs of eyes turning to look at him. One was a girl with hair that was in between blue and purple with deep green eyes, the other a girl with teal hair and brown eyes, black cat ears sticking up through her hair.

He crossed the room to sit in the chair they had set up in the corner of the common space. With a sigh he looked at them. "You might as well turn that camera on so we can get this over with. I've had a long day and the sooner this is done the sooner I can relax."

"R-right," the purple one nodded and the cat eared one switched on the camera. The light blinked on and Izuku turned to the purple one.

"Hello, my name is Izuku Midoriya, and my hero name is Deku. Since I know a lot of people are wondering why I chose a name that means useless I guess its time I explain. It started as a close friend misreading my name at a young age, before either of our quirks came in. As we grew their quirk came while mine didn't, I was a late bloomer. The nickname became hurtful, and it stayed hurtful for years, even during the first few weeks of us being in U.A. together. Until someone gave it a new meaning, saying how the thought it sounded like dekiru, like I can do this, not Deku. Seeing as I'm still good friends with both of them, and they are good friends with each other as well, I made the best of a name that was meant to be hurtful."

"I'm so sorry for what I said earlier," the purple one bowed her head, "most of your classmates' names have a practical meaning or are cute, yours was just… out there."

Izuku laughed, "Don't get me started on names, speaking of names what are yours?"

"I'm Iris, and that is my cousin Aki. Top two students in media management."

"Do you mind if I ask about your quirks?"

"Well, besides the obvious," Aki's ears twitched and a tail with long fur swished so he could actually see it, "If I touch any electronic I can control it for up to twenty four hours." He turned away from her smirk and looked at Iris.

"The official name for mine is phantom limbs, I just call it multitasking." A smoke like limb the same color as her hair appeared from her shoulder and waved as she took a sip of her drink. He sat forward, intrigued.

"How many can you make at once?"

"Don't ask her that!" Aki snapped, "and you better not indulge him!"

"Why?" "You're no fun!"

"She has to drink caffeine to use her quirk, Fatgum indulged her once and bought her some special coffee. She didn't sleep for 2 weeks and proceeded to deep clean all three management dorms."

Izuku couldn't help the laugh that slipped out, making Iris pout.

"Like you've never had a side effect from your quirk," she quipped and he just gave her a deadpanned look before answering.

"Try so many broken bones I've lost count."

"Ouch! Okay, you win that one."

"What about you, Aki?"

"She once had several of those roombas chase her through a store because she didn't know how to turn her quirk off yet."

He laughed then heard hushed whispers and turned to see most of the girls standing in the stairway.

"I hope you guys don't mind, Jiro is supposed to be back soon and we wanted a bit of a girls night."

He looked at Iris and Aki, ho both shrugged. "We don't mind just keep it down," he called out, turning back to the media students.

"So, back on the topic of names, care to explain why we shouldn't get you started on them."

Izuku groaned and put his head in his hands, muttering under his breath.

"Can you say that again."

"I said that as teenagers we are so stupid sometimes. Bakugo went through four names, each one worse than the one before it, before he settled on his." He saw her raise a brow, curious for him to continue.

"King Explosion Murder, Lord Explosion Murder, God Explosion Murder, Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight," he ticked each one off on his fingers. "Each one was denied as soon as he said it, took him a year to come up with Ground Zero."

"Wow, a year! He must be the one to take the longest in class."

"Nope!" He said with a grin "Shoto still hasn't picked one."

"Shoto? Todoroki?"

He nodded, "he is rather hopeless with this type of thing, plus I'm pretty sure he's doing it to get a rise out of his father."

"Care to explain?"

"Adequate, he wanted to be called Pro Her Adequate at one point." Both girls giggled. "The best he came up with so far isGanbatte."

"Ganbatte!Pffftttt Pro Hero Do your best?" Iris sputters and he can't help but smile at their shared laughter.

The laughter continued throughout the interview and Izuku found himself relaxing as the interview became more like chatting with friends than a reporter or journalist.

Iris leaned forward, a serious look in her eyes. "Now for the questions we've been asking everyone. What made you want to become a hero?"

Izuku was quiet as he thought about it. He could go the easy way and say it's all he ever wanted to be, but at one point almost every little kid dreamed of being a hero.

"Its something I've been wanting all my life. As long as I can remember I've wanted to be a hero, someone who helps others. I can't explain why exactly, I just knew I had to become a hero."

The purple haired girl nodded before asking the next question. "Who do you look up to in class?"

"Honestly, everyone."

"Care to explain?"

"Sure. Between both of the hero classes everyone has worked beyond their limits to train their quirks and themselves to even get into UA. Some have been training their lives just to get control of their quirks. Some faced discrimination their whole lives because of their quirks, and still decided to become heroes; some are still facing discrimination. All of us are still developing our quirks in unique ways, adapting to use them in new situations. For having the determination and the will to continue on, with all that we have went through I look up to everyone in the hero course, even the younger students. I wouldn't be here without two of them last year."

"What do you mean by last year?" Aki peeked her head out from behind the camera, he could tell she was curious by the twitch of her ear.

"I was at the Shizuoka Mall incident." His tone darkened as he remembered the terrified voices of his classmates.

"You weren't mentioned at-"

"I was shot," he cut Iris off, "I was bleeding out from three gunshots I took for my classmates."

"We kept it quiet," a soft voice came from beside him, he saw Yaoyorozu entering the room with a pot of tea. "We had two of us shot and one severely injured pro hero, not to mention several terrified first years at the time. So we kept it quiet. Aizawa agreed to keep your names out of the media, just that it was mainly the hero classes. They only know about Uraraka because they got her picture, they can't see your face in yours. The media got the information from either the civilians or Aizawa, none of us agreed to interview, though there were many offers."

"Thank you for that, Yaoyorozu." Izuku smiled, right as his stomach growled. He looked at the clock and finally noticed the time, they had been talking for hours. "Sorry guys, but I believe the interview is over for now."

The next week was a blur, and the last few photos were put up the night before the third day of the sports festival, the first day was for the first and the second for the second years. Each year had their own day.

There was Bakugo, covered in white foam, right next to the one of him getting sprayed down with water. He yelled about finding whoever put it up and ending them. Many candid photos were added as well.

There was Izuku, looking down at a kneeling Iida, a look of disappointment clear on his face.

Jiro, on the couch surrounded by all the girls, and just visible in the background was Izuku, his head thrown back in laughter.

Many more of everyone trying to do normal school stuff and practice their quirks at the same time. Uraraka floating upside down next to a floating Izuku, both doing their homework in the common space.

Kamanari was charging two boat batteries, his hands gripping the wires as Yaoyorozu quizzed him with flashcards.

Shinso, Ojiro, and Iida of all people, were doing yoga to keep or in Iida's case improve their flexibility.

So many smiling faces covering the walls, so many happy moments.

Notes:

Don't hate me for this! It gets better for everyone, I promise! If it makes you guys feel any better my roommate always proofreads this, calles me a terrible person, and threatens to beat me with a pillow after every chapter she reads and tries to take my tablet. THERE WILL BE A HAPPY ENDING FOR ALL THIS ANGST JUST WAIT FOR IT!