Chapter Text
Tomorrow was the day. Tomorrow, Izuku would finally get a chance to receive a spot at U.A.
Izuku was properly terrified.
He was constantly talking face to face with a villain, he had to lie to his mother about the sudden appearance of his quirk, he’d actually hit the famous Hero Killer Stain with a pipe for goodness sakes, and yet the thing that had him frozen to the spot was the impending entrance exam.
School had always been a bit of an iffy experience for Izuku. Quirkless for fourteen years, he’d experienced prejudice ever since he was four years old, and children could be especially cruel critics. Bullying and taunting, isolation…
It hurt. And even now that he had a quirk, he stilled faced some prejudice as a ‘late-bloomer’. Things weren’t as bad as before, but still bad. Izuku made a promise to himself that he’d never let himself show such discrimination to a quirkless or late-bloomer as he’d received.
It was probably this horrible experience with school that left him more than a little on edge about U.A. He’d never fit in at the regular, lower-end schools he’d been in before –what chance did he have if he got into a school as prestigious as U.A? With so many powerful and amazing quirk users? Would the students there dislike him as his classes in the past had? Would the teachers show blatant favoritism towards the other students, leaving behind lame, late-bloomer Izuku?
Izuku was jolted from his thoughts when there was a timid knock on his bedroom door before his mother peeked in. She looked worried.
“Izuku? Are you okay? I called you down for dinner, but you didn’t answer…”
Izuku blinked, surprised that he’d completely missed his mother calling for him. He quickly shoved away any fear or reservations he had for the moment, offering the woman a bright smile.
“S-sorry! I guess I was just a bit distracted!” He quickly apologized, waving his hand at the open notebook before him on th desk he sat at. He hadn’t actually done anything with it, but it was a believable lie, at the very least.
Inko’s eyes flickered to the notebook, then back to Izuku, the worry lining her face fading away as she smiled warmly. She entered the room fully, going over to the teen and running a hand through his messy hair.
“Oh, just look at my smart little hero. Always working so hard…”
Izuku blushed, grinning shyly.
“So….What’s for dinner?”
His mother’s smile became mischievous.
“Well, it happens to be someone’s favorite…”
Izuku perked up, eyes lighting with joy.
“Katsudon!”
The rest of the night was spent without any worry, Izuku and his mother laughing and talking animatedly over a warm meal.
Giant robots. Fantastic. The exam consisted of fighting robots.
This fact was why he was sitting still as a statue beside Kaachan, trying to remind himself to, at the very least, breathe lest he pass out. The details of the exam had just been explained in full, and now the other teens were filing out in a slow and steady stream, yet Izuku just couldn’t manage to make himself stand.
This was it. He was finally here, finally about to take a big step towards his dream –but what if he failed? His mother would be so disappointed and-
A yelp left Izuku when he was given a small jab to the ribs, and he looked at Bakugou in surprise and confusion. The blonde teen was sending him a glare, eyes blazing.
“If you pass out now, I ain’t carrying you outta here, useless Deku!” He hissed.
Izuku smiled bashfully, recognizing his friend’s gruff statement as actual concern. It made him feel at least a bit better, and that was something.
“I’ll be okay.” He assured.
Bakugou scoffed, pushing himself up to his feet with a muttered “Whatever” and shoving his hands in his pockets as he headed for the doors like everyone else. Izuku considered following, but opted to instead remain where he was until the crowd thinned. He took the chance provided to look over the other teen’s trying out for the heroics course. Some had quirks that affected their physical appearance, not that abnormal where quirks were concerned, and others had no clear physical signs of a quirk. People like Kaachan, who had quirks hidden beneath the surface.
There were so many people here, people with powerful quirks, quirks that they’d had years to learn how to control. Then there was Izuku, who hardly knew anything about All for One. It was so very expansive, with so many different applications, just how was he going to keep up? And he was starting to worry again, and dang it he shouldn’t be, not after Kaachan’s (admittedly interesting) show of concern. Yet here he was, sitting alone and scared.
And honestly, he had every reason to be afraid. Toshinori had made it clear that going to U.A was part of the plan –whatever his plan was. And despite how unassuming the man seemed, Izuku knew that he was dangerous. Very dangerous. Maybe not to Izuku, but honestly Izuku wasn’t worried about himself that much.
If he didn’t make it into U.A, what would happen? Would Yagi suddenly turn on him? No, that didn’t seem likely, but if he didn’t make it into U.A, what was the likelihood that the man might attack U.A to, as he’d put it a few weeks ago, ‘dissuade’ aspiring heroes from going pro because he thought they weren’t hero material? If Izuku was at U.A, then Yagi would probably avoid any attacks, not wanting to harm Izuku, but if Izuku wasn’t there…
“Hey, are you okay?”
Izuku blinked, looking up.
It was the girl from before. The nice one, the one who had spoken to him when he’d first arrived for the exam. The one who’d made him smile, and who’d chased away the butterflies of anxiety in his stomach. The brown-haired girl smiled brightly as Izuku peered up at her in surprise.
“You’re nervous, huh? I am too!”
Izuku was takn aback by the girl and her friendly attitude. He was so used to being regarded with pity or disgust, this was a new experience.
The girl didn’t seem to mind his stunned silence, offering a hand.
“I forgot to tell you my name earlier, so I thought I should introduce myself properly! Its much easier to feel less nervous if you make a new friend, don’t you think so?” She didn’t give Izuku a chance to reply, continuing on with hardly a pause. “I’m Ochako Uraraka!”
It took Izuku a second to find his voice, and when he did he still stumbled over his words as he took the hand, allowing the girl –Uraraka, to pull him to his feet.
“M-Midoriya Izuku.”
Uraraka smiled brightly, cheeks rosy with joy. She gave a half bow.
“Its nice to meet you, Midoriya!” She said cheerfully. Izuku found himself smiling, too. “Let’s both do our best today!”
“R-right!” Izuku agreed quickly.
Uraraka tilted her head, offering one more smile before heading for the nearest door.
Uraraka must have some magical power or some sort, Izuku decided, because now he wasn’t afraid about Toshinori, or about what could happen if he failed. Taking a deep breath and lifting his chin, Midoriya headed for the door as well.
Now wasn’t the time to think about all that. Right now, he needed to focus on the exam, on how he’d handle taking down giant robots, not on all the ‘what ifs’ that came with being an acquaintance of Toshi’s.
He was going to get into U.A, and he would do it for himself, not Yagi or anyone else.
He had no clue what he was thinking –actually, he wasn’t sure he even was thinking right now.
No, he was pretty sure he was acting on instinct rather than intellect.
He’d just been standing there, trying to come up with some way to pass the test, nearly in a panic. Kaachan was killing the exam, taking down robot after robot, and others were following his lead with ease. Izuku was not one of those people. No, by the time he could managed to call upon a quirk, someone else had taken down the robot he’d been targeting at the time.
He’d been trying to figure out what to do now, he was desperate and confused in the chaos…
She was pinned down.
She was in the path of the large, zero-point robot.
She was terrified.
And he’d just…moved! He hadn’t even processed that he was running until this moment, where he found himself already halfway to the robot, and he realized the fog of panic he’d previously been lost in had lifted away and he was seeing everything with sharp, crystal clear vision.
Usually, Izuku had trouble calling on All for One. It was difficult, sorting through the few quirks he now possessed, which sat filed away in the back of his mind. But for some reason, in this moment, when he knew someone’s safety was on the line –the safety of a good, kind person, he found the quirks easily slipped into his reach.
He called first on the mid-level strength quirk, letting its power build and send the sensation of warmth across his muscles, allowing it to push him faster and farther with each push of his legs. He then pulled the trap quirk, Bind, forward as well, careful to keep things balanced so that he could utilize both quirks at once –a precarious thing, like walking a tightrope in some strange way. He threw out a line of rope, then another and another and another, until he’d wrapped the mecha in enough rope to successfully yank it backwards.
The robot was heavy, and with a mid-level strength quirk Izuku couldn’t pull it to the ground. Still, he dug his feet in and managed to pull it to a stop. There was the heavy creaking moan of metal and whirring gears as the robot tried to proceed forward, but Izuku refused to let it, pulling all the harder. A couple of ropes snapped, but most of them managed to hold out by some form of miracle. Izuku’s eyes snapped away, searching for someone or something to help free Uraraka from her rocky prison, as the girl seemed a bit too shaken to use her quirk. His eyes landed on a tall boy with glasses –the one he’d spoken briefly with before the exam started. He was watching, stunned.
“Help her!” Izuku yelled over the chaos around them. The boy’s eyes snapped to him, and Izuku jerked his head in Uraraka’s direction to clarify. “Hurry! Help her!”
It took a split second more for the taller boy to piece together what Izuku was telling him to do, but once he leapt into action, the engines on his legs flashing to life as he ran to the girl at dizzying speeds. Uraraka seemed to have snapped out of it, and was now trying to use her quirk to lift away the debris that trapped her –though several pieces appeared to be too large for her to lift, apparently she needed some training before she’d be able to lift heavier loads. The boy with glasses helped the girl get her legs free, pulling her to her feet. She seemed frightened, but relatively unharmed.
Izuku was so relieved it made his knees feel weak. That had been close-
The ropes around the robot snapped, and the sudden loss of resistance had the robot falling forward.
Uraraka and the tall boy were both still in the path of the now crashing mecha. With a nauseating lurch of panic in his stomach, Izuku forced the Bind quirk forward again and lashed out, allowing rope to wrap around both Uraraka and the boy and yanking with all his might.
Both of the other teens were pulled out of the path just in time, the robot crashing with a ground-shaking thud. While the sudden action sent both the tall boy and Uraraka skidding across the ground a bit, they were relatively unharmed, with nothing more than a few scrapes, bumps and bruises.
Izuku absently noted that he could feel blood dripping from his nose –a side effect that tended to happen when he pushed All for One past the limits he currently had. But that didn’t matter to him. No, he was more worried about the two other teens who were pushing themselves back up and looking decidedly dazed.
Allowing both the strength quirk and the trap quirk he’d called upon to fade away, Izuku rushed over to the pair of disorientated teenagers, ignoring how his muscles felt lead heavy after the quirks slipped away from him.
“A-are you guys okay?!” Izuku asked, panic leaking into his voice as he knelt down to help Uraraka, his hands gently taking her shoulders. “I-I’m sorry, I couldn’t th-think of anything else, and I c-couldn’t just let you both get crushed or-!”
Izuku froze when warm arms wrapped around him, and it took him a moment to realize that Uraraka was hugging him. It was such a foreign experience, as only his mother, and once Toshinori, had hugged him like this. He could feel the slight tremble that wracked the girl’s frame, and it made his concern heighten.
“A-are…are you okay..? He asked, hesitantly patting her back. The boy with glasses was watching quietly, regarding Izuku with something that looked to be a mix of bewilderment and gratefulness.
“Midoriya!” Uraraka exclaimed, her voice thick with joy and relief. “That was amazing! You saved me!”
“You saved both of us.” The tall watching them corrected, his voice tinged with awe as he pushed his glasses back up his nose.
Uraraka pulled back, holding Izuku at arms-length with a beaming smile lighting her face.
“You’re a real hero, Midoriya! No wonder you’re here!”
The praise made Izuku’s entire face go a bright red, his mind short-circuiting.
“O-oh! No, I-I was just d-doing the right thing! I-I mean, I couldn’t j-just sit by and l-let you get hurt!” Izuku quickly pointed to the tall boy beside them. “H-he’s the one who g-got you free-!”
“I only became involved when you called my attention to the situation.” The teen with glasses interjected. “It was you who restrained the mecha and pulled us both out of harms way. You are indeed well on your way to becoming a hero!”
Izuku’s face felt as if it were on fire by now. He was unused to so much praise –and from people he didn’t even know to boot! Sure, his mother and Yagi would compliment him, but they were people he knew well. He’d never received such kind words from complete strangers before, and he wasn’t sure how to comprehend it, in all honesty.
Uraraka’s smile fell suddenly, replaced with concern.
“Oh! You’re bleeding, Midoriya!”
Izuku blinked owlishly, then realized what she was talking about. He lifted a hand to his nose, where blood had trickled down. Seeing the worry on the two other teen’s faces, Izuku quickly held his hands up in a placating manner.
“I-Its okay! This just h-happens when I over use my quirk, that’s all!” His mind quickly scrambled for the excuse he’d been provided for his quirk. “I have a copy quirk that l-lets me use multiple quirks at once! When I use too many t-too fast, it p-puts a little strain on my body is all!”
Relief filled Uraraka’s eyes as Izuku quickly wiped away the blood with his sleeve. All three teens jumped when they heard a voice calling out to them.
“Hey! You kids all okay?”
Seeing who was approaching them, Izuku felt his inner-fanboy start to freak out as he realized the one who was coming over was none other than Blood King. Izuku had written a whole three pages on this man and his quirk in his Quirk Analysis Notebook #4-
“We saw what happened through the video feed and came as fast as we could. Are any of you injured?” Blood King asked, coming to a halt beside them, two other heroes hot on his heels. While Uraraka and the other boy quickly reassured Blood King that they were okay, Izuku found himself more distracted with the two other heroes. One was a woman easily recognizable as Midnight, her pretty face creased with concern that smoothed out as soon as Izuku and Ochako stood. The other though, a man, was a bit harder to distinguish.
The man had long dark hair that fell around a pale face, and he was lanky, clad mostly in dark clothing aside from a pale scarf made of bandage-like strips of cloth. His eyes were tired, and looked disinterested, but there was something in those weary eyes that conveyed he was not so neutral about this situation. Something hard, like wariness, as he quietly regarded the collapsed robot nearby.
In a flash of clarity, Izuku realized that he did indeed know this hero. Eraserhead. He tended to stay out of the public eye, so he wasn’t so easy to recognize as other pro heroes were.
Suddenly Izuku found that the man’s piercing gaze was on him, and he froze on the spot, shoulders hiking up high around his ears. Izuku wondered if he was in trouble now –would he get yelled at? Would he be rejected from U.A or-
“Kid?”
Izuku jumped, eyes turning to Blood King. The man looked a bit worried.
“Y-yes sir?”
The man gestured towards his face pointedly.
“You, uh…Have a little…”
Midoriya blinked up at the hero, uncomprehending. After a second, though, he realized a bit more blood had trickled from his nose.
“O-oh!” Izuku again swiped his sleeve across his upper lip. “I-I’m alright sir, just o-overworked my quirk a-a little bit, that’s all!”
Blood King grunted, looking unconvinced.
“Well, I think we should have Recovery Girl look over you all, just in case. Come on, you three, this way.”
Izuku numbly followed. The exam was over, wasn’t it? He’d only taken down the zero-pointer…
As they headed onwards, Izuku could feel sadness and fear settle on his shoulders. Sadness because he wasn’t going to make it into U.A, wasn’t going to make it into the school of his dreams…
And afraid because he wasn’t quite sure how Toshinori would react.