Chapter Text
Narrator:
Tommy woke with a start. He had set a multitude of alarms for today on the alarm clock that Mitsuki had bought him just so that he didn't sleep too late and accidentally miss the entrance exam. As if he ever would because he was such a big man that he was the biggest man ever! He started getting ready for the day as usual, going over in his head basically every single thing he had learned in his lifetime for the paper exam. He had no idea what the physical exam would be and was anxious to find out.
As he came downstairs he found both Mitsuki and Masaru smiling at him.
"Good luck!" Masaru told him cheerfully.
"You are going to do fucking awesome and you are going to get first place!" Mitsuki shouted trying to give him a pep talk or manifest it and whatnot. It was refreshing after so long of cringing at the sound of her voice, expecting that he had done yet another thing to make her angry, frustrated or disappointed.
The disappointment was the worst. It made Tommy feel pushed to do more in order to prove himself deserving of her smiles and affection.
To prove that he was deserving of anything at all.
But it wasn't like that at the moment. Now all he could see was her determination that he would win. He saw it with Masaru too but with more calm smiles and reassurances.
Tommy, fueled by their belief in him, marched out the door and took a bus to UA, walking confidently up the walkway, following behind the other people looking to get into UA before stopping short when he saw how big the building actually was. He had seen it before of course, he had even walked up to the gate, but he had never walked right up to the building. It was bigger than the power tower and any other tower that Tommy had made or the ones other people had made for that matter. Tommy had to pause for a moment, just trying to breathe without passing out. He felt nervous but also giddy. His hands were shaking but at the same time he wanted to burst out laughing. This was probably the most important test he had ever taken up to this point. He didn't know for sure if the fighting aspect would compare to fighting Dream but he was prepared for anything. Most of Dream's tactic was manipulation. He would get in your head and destroy you from the inside out. Tommy was pretty sure that wouldn't happen here but he still wanted to stay prepared. He continued to walk, crushing down his nervousness and laughter, replacing it with anger and determination.
He almost flinched when he saw Deku in front of him. Almost. Tommy steeled his gaze and tried to continue being angry. But he couldn't. This guy had saved his life not one, but two times. Tommy didn't want to owe Deku any favors but he was in the other boy's debt whether he liked it or not. Tommy couldn't let Deku know this though. Deku didn't seem to realize that Tommy owed him but if he found out... Tommy didn't want to know what Deku would tell him to do. Kill someone, hand over his things, or reveal his secret base? He didn't think Deku would make him do those things but what if Deku was working with Dream? Would he make Tommy go back?
Tommy was so lost in thought that he almost bumped into the green haired boy.
"Out of my way nerd." He grumbled, maneuvering around Deku who was now apologizing profusely.
Tommy sighed, hearing Deku audibly relax after he had passed. As though he expected Tommy to hurt him.
It almost reminded Tommy of how he would always tense up, running through every single thing he had ever done that could possibly deserve punishment, an apology always on the tip of his tongue whenever Dream was within 10 feet of him.
That thought made Tommy stop in his tracks just before walking into the building.
No.
Just no.
He wasn't like Dream.
He couldn't be like Dream.
But wasn't he?
Hadn't he hit people?
Hadn't he exploded people?
Hadn't he told his friend to kill himself?
Tommy didn't know what had come over him at the time but he knew that the words had come out of his mouth. It was his own fault. He was the one that said it.
Tommy did not deserve to be a hero.
He was exactly like Dream.
Tommy turned away from the building with the full intention of leaving.
But that would mean having to pass Deku again. Tommy could see him talking to a brown haired girl with a round face and pink cheeks. He was blushing profusely as though he had never seen an actual woman in his life. He didn't want nosy prick Deku to see him chicken out. Even though the freckled wrongun was such an obvious disaster, Tommy knew that he would still try to be a hero no matter what. Tommy refused to be weaker than the guy who couldn't go two seconds without becoming the main cause of 99.999% of all second hand embarrassment.
There was still a voice in Tommy's head telling him - No - Shouting at him to leave. That he was too much of a villain to even think of becoming a hero.
But Tommy continued walking into the building.
After all, if he left now he wouldn't be a single step closer to being a good person.
All he would be was an idiot.
...
Tommy followed the stream of people into the big auditorium, taking a seat that wasn't too close to the stage or too far away. He was far enough to see the big screens without breaking his neck by looking up but was close enough to still see the main stage clearly and was right in the center of the room. Unfortunately, Deku was sitting next to him for some stupid reason. Tommy contemplated just stealing some random extra's seat and forcing them to sit beside Deku but right then, the school's apparent DJ, Present Mic, ran onto stage, introducing himself, and trying but failing at hyping everyone up. Present Mic coming on stage only caused Tommy to get nervous, anticipating the guy to announce that they had to do something that Tommy wasn't able to do like something to do with going underwater (he was pretty sure he'd drown) or fight to the death (even though he hadn't heard of any people dying during this, it was still possible that it would happen. Tommy didn't want to die and he certainly didn't want to kill anyone, not again.) Deku's constant muttering only made it worse but it was kind of funny when he got called out on it, even if the guy who called him out seemed to be really pretentious.
Tommy anxiously tapped his foot while Present Mic talked (more like shouted with his quirk) about what was going to happen during the exam. He had barely been able to find anything about the entrance exam online other than the basics so he hadn't been able to prepare for exactly what was happening. When he learned about the robots he was immensely glad for all of the quirk and strength training he did. It sounded like all he had to do would be to blow up the robots and he would gain points.
The entire stadium of students was divided into rooms for the written exam. Tommy knew most of the answers but was forced to guess on more than a few. It was fine though. He was pretty sure he had passed and he knew for a fact that the physical exam was what really counted.
Then it was onto the physical exam. Tommy stood in the crowd, hands ready at his sides as he waited impatiently for the gates to open.
3
2
1
GOOOOO!!!!
Everyone took off, all hoping to find the bots quickly.
It was an entire replica of the city, complete with cars on the street as though the owners were going to come out of the buildings and drive away at any moment, but now wasn't time to dwell on how much money the school could afford to spend on this. Tommy blasted himself into the air, the birds-eye view allowing him to see more bots. He got back to the ground and headed straight for a 3 pointer, destroying some 1's and 2's on the way. When he got there, he exploded it from behind so that it didn't have time to shoot at him.
'14 points so far.' He calculated. He would probably pass if he scored at least a 40 but Tommy wasn't in it to just "pass." Tommy was in it to win.
It had already been about 25 minutes and Tommy still needed more points. He followed the sounds of metal clanking and found a few 1's. Then he took a shortcut through an alleyway ending up right behind a 2, exploding it to bits. He ran, destroying some 1's and another 2 before finding two 3's together. He charged at them exploding one instantly then propelling himself in the air to explode the other then ran at the 1 that was minding its own business nearby and then found a 2 and then two more 1's. He was on a roll, exploding robots left and right. It had been about an hour and he had 34 points. He still needed more. He kept destroying robots, avoiding the other students and before he knew it, he had 68 points. Suddenly he heard a thump. Then another. He could feel it in the ground. He looked up and saw the 0 pointer. It was bigger than the rest which was surprising because it was only 0 points. He just sprinted away, ignoring it and the screams of those who got in its way.
He came across three 3 pointers right when the announcement said 1 minute left. Tommy ran straight at them, avoiding the bullets they were shooting at him and launched off a bunch of explosions, destroying them all entirely right as the exam ended.
77 points. That was the amount of points that Tommy got. He heard very few other people muttering about getting 50's or 40's and most seemed to have got 20's or 30's. Good. That meant that Tommy had a higher chance of winning. It still didn't stop his nerves though. Someone in one of the other groups could've scored higher. Everyone started to leave the replica city because the test was over, others staying behind because of injuries.
Tommy left quickly, shoving past the slow as fuck extras. He didn't see Deku on the way out but wasn't too surprised. There were a lot of people there and he wouldn't be surprised if Deku had gotten himself crushed flat.
Tommy sighed, taking the bus back home. What was he supposed to do now? Twiddle his thumbs and wait for the results to come in? Train some more? Spiral into a panic because he's not 100% sure that he even made it in?
Mitsuki greeted him at the door. She was smiling nervously as if she didn't know whether to congratulate or comfort him, probably because of the scowl on his face.
"I was fucking awesome and blew the extras out of my way." Tommy grinned before Mitsuki even had a chance to ask.
"That's great! I checked their website and it said that they would send the results in a month so we'll just have to wait for that." Mitsuki smiled but then her eyes became unfocused and she scowled as a heavy presence seemed to gather in the room that made Tommy want to run and hide but he didn't know why.
"Have you done the dishes yet? Or mopped?" Mitsuki snapped, looking around at the practically spotless house.
Tommy shook his head, avoiding her gaze.
"I've been at the entrance exam all day! And you never told me I had to." Tommy frowned.
"You should have just done it this morning. Then it would be done with and you wouldn't have to do it now." She glared, her red eyes driving themselves into Tommy's skull.
"But you've never told me that I had to do that stuff before just now." Tommy protested.
"It should be a given! You've been sitting around, mooching off of us for months! It's about time you start actually helping out around the house instead of just being a waste of space." She blinked and her eyes focused again she looked slightly confused and a bit regretful but just glared harder.
Tommy scowled but couldn't deny that she was right. What had he been thinking? Just mooching off of them. There was something in her voice that made his hands start shaking, his palms start sweating, and his heart almost stop in fear but he shoved his hands in his pockets, used all his willpower to not run away and went to do what she had asked of him.
It took a while, was made even more difficult and stressful by Mitsuki standing over his shoulder and criticizing everything he did.
Finally he was done and went to his room. There wasn't anything to distract him now so his worried thoughts came back full force. Tommy flopped on his bed, staring at the ceiling. UA only accepts the best of the best. What if there was someone who was better? What if he got in but he didn't make it to the hero course? Why did he have to wait an entire month to know if he had failed?!
•••
Exactly one month later, Tommy braced himself for the contents of the letter sitting on his desk, holding his breath as he carefully peeled open the envelope which was seemed with wax and stamped with the school's emblem. A small disk fell out and a hologram of a screen popped up in front of him, showing All Might smiling in all his glory.
"Bakugou Katsuki. This is your hero academia."
Tommy stood up and let out a whoop, all the tension that was in him moments earlier leaving without a trace.
He could do this.
He could be a hero.
A real one this time.