Chapter Text
The alarm blared and Hitoshi scowled as he forced his eyes open. He grabbed his phone and stopped the annoying sound. He yawned and kicked the blankets off him and dragged himself off the second hand futon his brother had managed to find. Speaking of his brother, his frown deepened when he failed to see Izuku anywhere.
He went to the other room and found Izuku sitting against the wall, his tools scattered around him as he made minute adjustments to the staff he'd built for Hitoshi.
“Zu, did you sleep at all?” he asked.
Izuku just mumbled something as he tightened something in the staff before collapsing it to a small cylinder. “You should eat,” he said quietly. “You'll need your strength for the exam today.”
Hitoshi wanted to be mad, but the reminder was like a bucket of cold water. The entrance exam for UA. Specifically for the Hero course. Izuku would go to the exam for the support course tomorrow, but today was Hitoshi's chance to be a hero. To prove all the people in the foster system who'd called him a villain wrong. Eight months ago, it had been a dream for both him and Izuku, but after being attacked by a villain made of sludge, Izuku had lost his fire. Not that he'd told Toshi that. He'd seen the remnants of the goo stuck to Izuku's clothes and heard about a villain that had gotten loose from the hero who'd captured it and tried to attack another kid. There was more to that story, Toshi knew it but Izuku refused to speak about it at all. He'd just given up his dream of being a hero and settled into a support role.
Hitoshi dug a sandwich from the cooler they used for their food and ate slowly, watching as his found family checked over his gear. They'd met on the streets four years ago. Hitoshi had run from yet another terrible foster home, and Izuku's mother had abandoned him and he'd been forced to leave his home when the rent came due. Two 10 year olds against the world. They'd moved from place to place until they'd found this partially collapsed, abandoned house. It was between both their middle schools, so neither were caught for truancy. Neither had missing person reports and thanks to a burner phone and a voice changer that Izuku had improved on, they had been able to avoid detection. Both did small jobs for people in the nearby neighbourhoods and the local shops for money and kept their heads down. Lies about sick parents and money being tight at home were enough to earn them some sympathy and a few odd jobs here and there. A beach turned junk yard near where Izuku had used to live supplied lots of materials for Izuku's creations.
“Are you sure you don't want to try for the Hero course Zu?” Hitoshi asked, making one last attempt.
Izuku didn't look up, “Gotta be realistic Toshi,” he said. Hitoshi sighed.
“Will you come with? You can wait outside for me. I'll do better if I know you're nearby and cheering for me,” Hitoshi wheedled.
Izuku paused and finally looked up, his a shadow of his former self peeking through “You want me there?”
Hitoshi grinned, “Yeah. You're my support, my brother and I need you.”
Izuku gave a small smile and stood. “Guess I could bring my project, and work on it while I wait.”
Hitoshi swallowed the last of his sandwich, “Grab something to eat and we'll go.”
~
Shortly, both boys were headed for the train station, their hands clutching their bags and the hopes contained within.
“Izuku! Hitoshi!” They paused as they heard their names called. They turned to see a local shopkeep who regularly hired them walking up. “Good Morning boys. And where are you headed today?” She asked with a smile.
“Entrance exam for UA, mine's today and Izuku's is tomorrow,” Hitoshi answered easily.
Her smile widened, “Oh, good luck. I doubt you'll need it though. You both have been working so hard.” She paused and smiled down at the boys, “In fact you both deserve a treat for how hard you've been working. I know you both are trying to get money to help at home, but take this and get yourselves a treat, for me, ok?” She held out a few bills.
Izuku looked at Hitoshi and they shared a look. Izuku took a deep breath and put on his biggest, brightest (and in Hitoshi's eyes, fakest) smile, “Thank you so much Mrs Kangoshi. We really appreciate it.” he carefully took the bills. Hitoshi bowed, “Yes, thank you.”
Mrs Kangoshi smiled again, “Now remember, that is for a treat. You boys deserve it. Now you had better go.”
The boys quickly said good bye and scurried away. “She's too nice to us,” Izuku said, tucking the money away. “In a good way or a bad way?” Hitoshi asked. He trusted Izuku's opinions on people, and his ability to guess how they'd act.
Izuku frowned as he thought. “I have a feeling she's getting suspicious of us. Not sure if she'll report it yet or if she's going to try and help for a bit. But we need to be careful with what we say to her.”
Hitoshi frowned, he always went to the worst case scenario, but Izuku could plan for every scenario. He nodded, “We'll come up with a story later.”
Izuku nodded, “Yeah, you need to focus.”
They took the train in silence. Hitoshi had been nervous last night, but now, with Izuku beside him, he felt calm, confident. Together, they could do anything. Become Heroes.
They stopped in front of the school. The enormous building loomed over them. Izuku spied a large sign pointing the hero hopefuls to where they needed to go. He pointed it to Hitoshi and Hitoshi reluctantly left his brother and followed the signs.
He soon found himself in a large room filled with desks. He quickly moved towards the back and snagged a seat. The room was filling quickly and soon a black clad person stood at the front of the room. His long, blond hair stood up in an impossible arc and his voice filled the room. Present Mic. Izuku would lose his mind Hitoshi thought, as he listened to the teacher. First would come the written test then they'd move to an artificial city to fight robots to earn points. At the mention of robots some students cheered but Hitoshi scowled. He'd have to rely on his gear, his quirk being useless against robots. Thank goodness Izuku had done the research and gotten his gear approved beforehand.
The tests were passed out and Hitoshi jumped to it. He felt confident and breezed through the questions; Izuku's study plan had clearly over prepared him. Once he was finished, he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. Meditation helped him with his nerves and he couldn't risk allowing himself to start doubting his skills now. He had to get in. Izuku believed in him and there was no way he'd waste all the time and effort they'd put into his training.
His eyes snapped open when he heard Mic announce the end of the written portion of the exam. The hero went over the robots and their values and had been interrupted by a tall, loud student who'd been shut down quickly. Hitoshi followed the rest of the students to changing rooms and then to a line of buses, taking the examinees to multiple testing sites. He settled on his bus and let his mind wander. Four types of bots. 1,2,and 3 pointers and a zero pointer that I should avoid.
The bus deposited them at the edge of a fake city. Hitoshi adjusted his scarf around his neck and pulled his staff from his belt. He twisted the handle and the staff snapped to it's full length. He twirled it as he waited for the signal to begin. He spied someone approaching him from the corner of his eye, the tall loud boy who interrupted Present Mic.
“Excuse me, but I am not sure you should have...” he began.
Hitoshi gave him a bored look, “It's been approved. If there's a problem, I'm sure the teachers will say something. Otherwise, mind your own business.”
The boy chopped his hands through the air, clearly at a loss for words when Present Mic's voice rang out. “GO! NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL LIFE!”
Hitoshi spun and sprinted off. Within moments he'd come across a small robot. He thrust at it with his staff and was surprised at how easily he stabbed through it. Built to be destroyed, that's helpful. He gave a grim smile, he had a chance.
He tried to keep to the edges, away from other examinees. He focused on the smaller bots, racking up points. “THREE MINUTES LEFT!” he heard Mic's voice announce before the ground shuddered and an enormous robot emerged from a cluster of buildings. Hitoshi saw another kid running away and was prepared to leave as well when he heard a scream. He turned and jumped up on pile of debris and spotted a girl with her legs buried underneath some rubble. He saw the giant robot step towards the trapped girl and ran as it neared her. He jammed his staff into the pile and pulled, using it to lever some of the bigger pieces off of her. “Can you pull yourself out?” He called down at her. She grunted and used her arms to drag herself forward enough to be free. The robot was still moving towards them and Hitoshi scowled when he saw the blood on the girl's leg. He tugged his staff free, and collapsed it before grabbing the girl and running with her in his arms.
She looked over his shoulder, “It's attacking!” she cried.
Hitoshi looked forward and had an idea, “Hold on to me.” he ordered and let go of her legs. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she was pressed against his side. He used his free hand to unwrap his scarf as he ran and threw it at a light post. It wrapped around and he jumped, swinging on the scarf, and narrowly dodging the robot's arm. A quick tug and his scarf was free and he kept moving, headed for the edge of the city. Then a horn sounded and Present Mic announced “Time's Up! Please head for the starting area! If you are injured just wait and help will arrive shortly.”
Hitoshi let out a weak laugh and carefully lowered the girl to the ground. “You ok?” he asked.
She smiled, brushing her brown hair from her face, “I am thanks to you. I overused my quirk and couldn't get that stuff off of me. So thank you very much. I... was really scared for a minute there.”
“Yeah, that thing was scary as hell,” Hitoshi said watching for the medics. He was surprised to see an older woman, just a little thing, walking calmly towards them. Her cane was shaped like a giant syringe, and she wore a white coat. Izuku would know who she was but for now, Hitoshi just waited.
“Are you injured, young man?” the old lady asked.
“No Ma'am. But she is,” he answered politely, gesturing to the girl.
“So you waited with the injured until help arrived... good good,” the old lady muttered then smiled at the girl. She moved forward and examined her leg. “Just a light sprain and some cuts. Nothing serious.” She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the girl's forehead. The girl wobbled slightly, suddenly looking exhausted. The old lady turned to Hitoshi, “I'll make sure she's taken care of young man, head for the exit. You did an excellent job.” Hitoshi nodded and started to leave, seeing some bots rolling forward with a stretcher. He headed for the exit but kept looking behind to see the girl put on the stretcher and taken away. At last satisfied, he headed for the exit and found himself back on the bus, with only half the people that had ridden out.
Back at the school, he'd changed, gotten a quick check up and been sent on his way. Following a few others, he'd heard a loud voice crowing about how easy the robots had been to destroy, how he must have gotten the highest score and was better then anyone else there. Hitoshi rolled his eyes and tuned out the braggart. He just wanted to get back to Izuku and celebrate. He felt good, he'd done well, now he just had to wait and help Izuku prepare for his exam tomorrow.
Outside he looked around and spied his brother sitting on a bench near the entrance gate. He was cross legged on the bench, with a book balanced on one knee and something held in his hands. He was absorbed in his work and didn't seem to notice the students walking past. Hitoshi was about to head his way when he heard a yell.
“OI DEKU! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?”