Chapter Text
Hiroki hustled down the road, rushing to make it to school before the vast quantity of the other students arrived on campus. It was his first day at UA and Hiroki had to be able to find his way around campus before class.
Unfortunately for Hiroki, there was a mix-up in the mail with his acceptance letter, the whole moving to a new country could do that for you. The school was finally able to contact Hiroki through his parents back in America to get his phone number and new address properly added into the school’s database so they could accept him into class. Unfortunately, this whole mix-up took ages to sort out, meaning that Hiroki would have to “transfer in” to the UA hero course about a week later than all the other students.
Hiroki’s eyes lit up when he saw the magnificence that was the UA building. He stepped through the entry gates, marvelling at the modern design of it all. Japan was so much different from his hometown in Oregon, and it was sometimes hard to believe that he was halfway across the world from where he grew up.
Once the young man entered the building, he looked around for class 1-A. It shouldn’t be too hard to find… Oh. Hiroki paused in front of the massive, and that means massive, door to class 1-A and swallowed the lump in his throat. He felt a rough mixture of fear and excitement bubbling inside of him. Well, it was now or never.
He pushed open the massive door and peeled into the classroom. Despite being so early in the morning before classes, there were still a couple students in the room. He stared at them for awhile from his spot at the door, mouth forming a small “O” as he watched his new classmates.
“Oi, you gonna stand there all day, creep?”
Hiroki was shocked out of his trance by a messy blond haired boy with his feet kicked up on the desk. Hiroki watched as the eyes of everyone in the classroom turned to him. There was only a couple students in the room, but Hiroki feared he had already made a bad impression.
“I uh, I’m actually new here?” Hiroki said, voice lifting a pitch or two, much to his embarrassment.
“Ah yes, that explains the extra desk at the back of the classroom, you must be the owner of seat-21!” Hiroki let out a sigh of relief when the bespectacled boy addressed him. “I am Tenya Iida, the class representative. Though I do find it strange how Mr. Aizawa had not informed us of a new student joining our class…”
At that, a yellow sleeping bag made its entrance, curling upright at the front of the classroom. “A new student will be joining our class today,” it said before resting itself back on the ground.
Hiroki pointed at the sleeping bag in confusion and bewilderment, jaw hanging slightly open. He stammered for a short second before deciding it was simply better not to ask.
Before long, the rest of the class 1-A students began to file into the classroom, making idle chatter with one another. A few students curiously approached him for conversation and why he was in the class, but others kept their distance and stayed with the classmates they already knew. Hiroki grinned brightly, answering their questions one at a time until it was time for class to start.
The mystery sleeping bag at the front of the class unzipped itself to reveal a tall man with long black hair. “Alright, take your seats, we have a lot to get done today,” the man (Mr. Aizawa?) said, making a shooing motion while the kids when back to their seats. “Now, as many of you may have already noticed, we have a new student in our class,” he said, eyes locking with Hiroki’s, “Go ahead, introduce yourself, let’s get this over with.”
“Oh! My name is Hiroki Ken, but please just call me Hiroki! I moved here from America, not too long ago, so I could attend UA and become a hero! There was a little mix up with my acceptance letter, so that's why I’m joining your class late!” He paused, “Oh! Also, just to get it over with, I’m trans.” With that declaration, Hiroki took his seat. He heard a couple students mumble in confusion about his final statement.
“It means Transgender,” the spiky haired blond said with a huff.
There were still some mumbles of confusion.
“It means I wasn't born a dude.”
“Wait,” a short purple haired boy said, “does that mean you have boobs?”
Hiroki recoiled at that comment, face twisting into one of disgust. “Mineta, that is extremely disrespectful and inappropriate,” an authoritative voice scolded, and Hiroki reminded himself that he would need to thank Iida later. But right now, he just buried his face in his hands. This was going to be a long day.
He hummed idly as he sat alone at lunch, slowly munching away at his food. The lunchroom was noisy and always bustling with students from the different courses, but the atmosphere reminded him of home.
“Hey, Ken! Can we sit here with you?” A chipper voice asked. Hiroki looked up to see Uraraka smiling down at him, accompanied by Iida and Midoriya.
“Oh, uh, sure!” Hiroki honestly didn’t expect anyone to sit with him, but was extremely relieved when the three sat down. Uraraka took the seat next to Hiroki, while Midoriya and Iida sat down across from him.
They didn't sit silent for long, before Midoriya spoke up. “So, Ken-”
“Hiroki, please,” he interrupted, smiling sheepishly, “It’s weird being called, Ken. Not that I don't like it, It’s just… Different from what I’m used to!”
Midoriya simply smiled and nodded before continuing, “So, Hiroki, how’s UA so far? Did you get lost at all? I know I did on my first day!”
“Oh! I got totally lost on my way to class… It was so awkward running around such a big building! I’m glad I woke up early so I could get a head start on the way here.”
“Well, Hiroki,” Iida spoke up, lifting his hand in the air before making a chopping motion, “If you ever need a guide, your class representative, Tenya Iida, would be honored to help!”
Hiroki couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at Iida’s formalities, “Thanks Iida, I’ll probably have to take you up on that offer! Japan is so different from what I’m used to, but it doesn't even feel real, being here. I’ve wanted to come here since I was tiny, I even started learning japanese when I was around six!”
“Oh! I was wondering that! Your japanese is really good, though you do have an accent. It’s kinda cute though!” Uraraka said, pushing her fingertips together.
Midoriya leaned forward, “Yeah, I have so many questions! America must be so different compared to Japan!”
“Yes indeed! The culture must be very different compared to what it’s like here.” Iida nodded before pushing up his glasses and meeting Hiroki’s eyes, “Though, I would be more interested to learn about you, Hiroki. With you not having been here the first week of class, it would be nice to get to know you.”
“Oh yea! We should totally hang out after school today, the four of us!” nodded Uraraka, “How’s that sound, Hiroki?”
Honestly, Hiroki was a little shocked his classmates wanted to hang out with him so soon after meeting him. So, with a wide smile, Hiroki agreed.
After school, Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida, and Hiroki decided they would go over to Iida’s house to study. Hiroki was already a week behind in class, so it was a huge sigh of relief to be able to spend time with his classmates who already knew what they were studying when it came to both heroics and academics.
The walk over to Iida’s house was short and relaxing. Midoriya and Uraraka doing most of the work keeping the conversation going between the four of them as Iida and Hiroki mostly listened.
When they arrived, Iida gave a brief hello to his parents, letting him know he had friends over to study, and the four retreated to his room. Iida’s room was completely tidy and had tall bookshelves lining the wall. The shelves mostly seemed to contain textbooks and high level reading material that Hiroki probably wouldn’t be able to read if he tried. He wasn’t that proficient in the language just yet.
The four of them settled down on Iida’s floor, and pulled out their notebooks and study supplies and got to work. Iida was their go-to guy when they needed help on a question or a particular problem that had them stumped and he was happy to be of aid. When the group decided they were done studying, Midoriya and Uraraka began their lighthearted interrogation of Hiroki.
“So,” Uraraka began, “the most obvious question first, what’s your quirk! You weren’t there when we did quirk evaluation so none of us know what it is!”
“Oh that’s an easy one! It’s ‘shockwave’. It’s a little hard to explain the specifics of, but I can make considerable shockwaves by exerting enough force. I used to get pretty bad recoil before my quirk fully developed, but when it did, I got some pretty significant shock absorption on my arms and legs! Though if I use my quirk too much, I get pretty physically exhausted.” After Hiroki was done, the others gave a brief little explanation of their quirks, Uraraka even gave a little example by floating her notebook while Iida pulled up his pant leg to show off his engines.
The group spent the rest of the evening telling each other about themselves from their family to their favourite heroes. Midoriya and Uraraka left earlier than Hiroki with a promise to do this again soon. Hiroki stay behind, having asked Iida to help him catch up on what he missed.
“Why of course!” Iida agreed, pushing up his glasses, “If you don’t mind though, I do have some other questions I would like to ask you.”
“Oh?” Hiroki questioned, his voice curious, “About what?”
“Uhm…” Iida started awkwardly, looking around the room as if to check that no one else was there or listening. “I wanted to ask you about the whole, transgender thing… Of course if you’re not comfortable discussing that we don’t need to I was just-”
“No no! I wouldn’t have announced it to the class if I want comfortable discussing it, no worries Iida! What did you want to ask?” Hiroki felt his heart rate accelerate out of nervousness. Iida seemed like a great guy, so he didn't expect him to ask anything rude or demeaning, but he couldn't help the anxiety that welled up inside of him.
Iida took a minute to compose himself, taking a deep breath, “How did you.. Tell people… about.. How did you tell people about the whole issue. NOT THAT BEING TRANSGENDER IS AN ISSUE, IT’S TOTALLY NOT, I JUS-”
A wave of relief washed over Hiroki and he let out a small chuckle at Iida, “Slow down, Iida! I get it!”
Iida looked incredibly tense, his face slightly flustered, “Of course, yes.. Sorry I lost my composure there…”
“Really, it’s fine! So how I came out to… my family and stuff?” Iida nodded. “Well, I had some help from someone. It was really hard to get the courage to tell my family, especially after reading so many horror stories…” He rubbed at the back of his neck, shifting his weight from foot to foot, “But I had nothing to worry about, really. It went over super well with my parents. Of course they had some trouble getting used to it at first, but they did their best.” By the end, hiroki was smiling.
He looked up to Iida, and the other’s eyes wide and filled with emotion. “Thank you for telling me, Ken. You have a lot of courage”
“No problem Iida, and please, call me Hiroki.”