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Midoriya was shaking like a leaf as he approached the U.A. building. This was it. He was about to take the U.A. Entrance Exam. Thoughts clouded his mind like alphabet soup as he reached the front steps, so much so that he somehow tripped on the flat surface. He flailed his arms as he fell, bracing for impact.
Instead of crashing into the concrete pavement, Midoriya felt himself land on a pair of strong arms holding him up. Wide green eyes blinked up at gleaming red. The freckled boy recoiled in shock, not being able to compute why his childhood friend would willingly help him. However, as he scrambled away from the muscular frame, he noticed that the usual head of blond hair was replaced with more red, and in the stead of his old friend's trademark sneer, he was met with a kind smile.
"You okay, dude?" The taller boy grinned in greeting.
"Yeah, t-thank you," Midoriya managed to bow his head in thanks, but the other boy simply waved him off.
"No problem," he chirped, "I wanna be a hero after all! It would be unmanly if I'd let you fall!" He paused before laughing, "Hey, that rhymed!"
The green haired boy felt himself smiling in tandem with him, like his good mood was infectious.
"I'm Kirishima Eijirou, by the way!" The redhead—Kirishima, rather—grinned, offering up a peace sign in greeting, "What's your name?"
"M-Mi-Midoriya I-Izuku," the shorter boy managed to stammer out.
"Well it's nice to meet you, Midobro! I'll see you on the other side!" Kirishima flashed one more megawatt smile before heading towards the main entrance.
The green haired boy suddenly felt newly invigorated. He could do this. He could do this! He was going to be the number one hero! He was no longer a—
"Deku," a familiar voice practically spat out. Midoriya turned to see Bakugou making his way towards him. The blond narrowed his eyes at him appraisingly, "You're in my way."
"Sorry, Kacchan!" The green haired boy squeaked—a shy louder than necessary, if the dirty looks the passersby shot them were any indication—but his childhood friend was already walking past him, only acknowledging the apology with an eye roll. He must be in a good mood today.
A nearby girl with short brown hair watched the exchange curiously, before joining the blond and the redhead inside the building.
Midoriya sighed, wordlessly praying that the rest of the day would go by smoothly.
The written part was a joke. He had quizzed himself with worksheets and flashcards his entire life, waiting for this moment. Within the first half hour, Bakugou had already finished answering and double-checking his answers. The only trouble he had was the glasses-wearing nerd sitting next to him trying to tell him how to sit down properly before the test began.
The physical portion was way more fun for the blond. He soared through the urban landscape like a rocket, blowing up every single robot he saw. Sadly, the machines weren't as sturdy as they looked. They were all just small fries, meant for small fry quirks like the rest of the participants.
Speaking of which.
"Hey!" A short girl with pink cheeks smiled at him cheerfully as he obliterated another Three-Pointer by her side.
"What do you want, Round Face?" He seethed, ripping off the control panel with his bare hands.
"Rude!" She puffed her chipmunk cheeks at the nickname, "I wanted to thank you!"
"Hah?" He swivelled around to eye her suspiciously, "What for, extra?"
"Your explosions keep giving me ammunition for my quirk!" She explained as she ran by his side, "My quirk is Zero Gravity, so I can make stuff float. But it only works if I touch it with all five fingers. It's hard for me to get in range with the robots without getting hurt, but with you around I can launch the machines you blew up to take down the others!"
"Like hell I'd let you get to others before me!" Bakugou hissed, picking up his pace to escape from the chatterbox. However, she seemed to be able to keep up with him, while still having the breath to talk casually.
"You're funny, Kacchan," she spoke between fits of laughter, causing him to stumble with his footing.
"What did you call me?" Bakugou narrowed his eyes at her.
"Kacchan!" She perked up, "Sorry, I overheard that green haired boy say your name earlier. It's so cute! I'm Uraraka Ochako by the way."
"I don't care who you are!" Bakugou bellowed, "Just don't call me that, you b—"
"Heads up!" Uraraka called out, pointing towards something behind him. While still maintaining his glare at her, he raised his palm behind him and blasted the robot attempting to sneak up on him. She whistled as she stared at him in awe.
Bakugou felt his eye twitch, before his gaze darted to something above. Uraraka caught the look quickly, and looked up to see another machine approaching them from overhead.
Uraraka threw a smirk his way, before activating her quirk on the fallen robot parts behind him. The blond got the idea and catapulted the weightless broken pieces towards the attacking machine. Uraraka deactivated her quirk and the debris fell like a meteor shower.
The brunette beamed at him expectantly.
"I told you we would work well together!" Uraraka practically sang as she skipped along by his side.
"Whatever, I don't need your help, I'm gonna be the number one hero!" He grouched, but didn't ask her to leave.
Behind them, a glasses-wearing so-called nerd watched them in morbid fascination.
Midoriya was very much panicking. Time was running out and he still hand't managed to earn a single point. If he used One For All now, he'd surely injure himself so much so that he'd have to be pulled out. Plus the nerd—as Bakugou liked to call him—side of him wanted to take note of all of the cool new quirks he was being exposed to. Unfortunately, all of those cool new quirks were hogging all of the Two-Pointers.
He was chasing down an unassuming looking One-Pointer before he was suddenly off the ground. Green eyes blinked owlishly as he watched his legs dangle precariously from a suspended height and a lean arm wrap itself around his torso. His back pressed against a solid surface that distinctly did not feel like the skyscraper he thought he was hanging from. Before he could turn to see who or what had kidnapped him, he witnessed a Three-Pointer crashing into the spot he was standing on moments ago.
"Sorry, man," a chipper voice called out, right next to his ear. He craned his neck to see a black haired boy with a wide smile greeting him.
"T-Thank you!" Midoriya bowed his head in shame. How was he supposed to be the number one hero like this? How was he supposed to save people if he couldn't even save himself?
"Don't stress about it," the stranger shrugged as he lowered them down. Midoriya went slack-jawed as he saw what looked like wide strips of tape protruding out of his elbow. The tape appeared to be attached to the skyscraper, and was probably the only thing keeping them from free-falling into the sidewalk. Midoriya had so many questions. How much weight could the tape support? Where in the body was it stored? What speed did it go at for him to be able to shoot it like that?
Before he could voice any of his thoughts, Present Mic's voice boomed into the P.A. system, announcing that there was only a minute remaining.
Midoriya whipped his head around, trying to see where the One-Pointer and Three-Pointer from earlier went. However, the shadow of the skyscraper seemed to get bigger, enveloping the street in darkness. The freckled boy slowly looked up at the sky and saw an enormous Zero-Pointer slowly navigate its way through the clouds.
Suddenly, it stopped moving. Just as suddenly, the Zero-Pointer was descending onto them like a comet. They were directly below the centre of the robot, there was no way they would be able to make it out of the way in time. Instead, Midoriya sprinted towards the boy with the tape quirk once more. Even if it didn't earn him any points, he had to save them. That's what heroes did.
He extended his arm, just like he did for Bakugou all those years ago. The black haired boy seemed to understand his thought process. This time, the other boy accepted the offered hand.
The taller boy heaved with all his might, swinging from the skyscraper to gather momentum, and tossed the shorter boy into the air. Midoriya activated One For All, and smashed the machine to smithereens, most likely along with a bone or two of his.
Eventually, gravity took hold of Midoriya once more and he fell back down to earth, and he steeled himself for the harsh impact. Instead, the boy with the tape quirk swung towards him and caught him in his arms.
"After saving each other so much today, I think we should learn each other's names," he grinned as they landed back on the cement pathway, "I'm Sero Hanta."
"Midoriya Izuku," the green haired boy managed to choke out before a buzzer sounded, signalling the end of the physical portion.
"You!" A stern sounding voice seemed to direct itself to Bakugou after they were all dismissed. The blond looked back to see the glasses-wearing nerd from before, and he narrowed his eyes instantaneously.
"What, are you going to teach me how to walk now, too, Four Eyes?" He scowled. The nerd huffed, but proceeded to bow stiffly before him, making him frown in confusion.
"I must apologise to you!" He exclaimed strictly, "I assumed you were a delinquent when I first saw you in the written part, and presumed that you weren't taking it seriously. However, I was able to witness your dedication and teamwork with that girl during the physical portion! As a hopeful hero-in-training and the brother to the aspiring pro hero Ingenium, I should have known better than to judge people so rashly and recklessly!"
"You're Ingenium's brother?" That actually piqued his interest, and the nerd seem to perk up at that.
"Yes! I'm Iida Tenya, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance!" Iida greeted.
"Whatever, extra, I don't care what you think of me," Bakugou straightened his posture as he looked him in the eye, "Either way, I'm gonna prove to you and all the other extras that I, Bakugou Katsuki, am going to be the number one hero."
With that, the blond turned his heels and stomped away, unbeknownst to the inspired-looking Iida waving him goodbye.