Chapter Text
“Midoriya!” A voice called into Deku’s dorm room, causing him to shift his sheets as he was startled awake.
“Huh? Who?” He drowsily called out. He sat up, but due to the darkness, he was unable to identify who was in his doorway. His voice was still heavy with sleep, and he blinked multiple times in an attempt to wake up. What time is it? He asked himself, his mind fuzzy. What’s going on?
“It’s your teacher. Get up, we’ve got plans,” The person in the doorway spoke again, their voice low and exhausted. With those small details, Deku was able to piece together who they were.
“Mr. Aizawa?” He asked, throwing off his coverings and climbing out of bed quickly. His thoughts began to race, rapidly trying to figure out what was going on.
Are we in danger? Did something happen?
Deku yawned, stretching his arms out. He tried to shake himself more awake. “What time is it? What’s happening?”
“Too early. Get ready, we’ll be leaving for training in ten minutes. The bus is already parked out front with your hero costumes inside, just wear something comfortable and don’t bring
anything
but yourself.”
“Alright sir,” Deku fought to keep the confusion out of his tone. Clearly, he wasn’t going to get any more information out of the teacher. He wasn’t sure what Aizawa was planning, or why they had to go so early. However, he wouldn’t get those questions answered by just sitting around. I guess I’ll just do what he said.
As he turned to straighten his pillows and sheets, Aizawa left, encasing the room in darkness as the door closed behind him. Deku hazily walked over to the light switch, squinting at the artificial brightness. He yawned again, rubbing his eyes. He decided to get dressed, praying that he would be more awake by the time he had to leave.
He pulled on light, casual clothes, dressing in a medium-length pair of shorts and a white T-Shirt. After a few moments of debating, he threw on a navy blue jacket as well. He wasn’t sure he needed it, but it was fairly late into the year. The air was sure to be at least a little chilly.
Once he was dressed, ran a comb through his hair, and brushed his teeth, he was about ready to go. He considered grabbing his phone, then remembered what Aizawa had said about bringing nothing but himself. He supposed that meant his device too. He left his room quickly, trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever training the teacher was going to put them all through.
Deku noticed quickly that the whole building was silent, except for the sounds of exhausted feet shuffling and a few murmured conversations of speculation.
“Good morning Midoriya!” Iida greeted when he first spotted Deku. The class representative was standing by the kitchen, handing out small snacks to whoever felt like they could eat them. “Are you ready for a full day of training?” He looked more alert than Deku felt, though it was easy to tell that even Iida wasn’t totally awake.
“I’m not!” Kirishima yawned good-naturedly, swallowing a bite of a power bar he had taken from Iida. “Although I have to admit I am curious about what all this is about, we haven’t done anything like this before.” Deku had to agree as he grabbed a small bar for himself. The school had a tendency to spring things on them, but a middle-of-the-night excursion seemed extra out of the ordinary.
“Who’s shitty idea was it to get us up this early?” Bakugou sounded irritated, also entering the main room. Unlike many of the others, he was far from quiet. Deku knew that his childhood friend didn’t like his neat sleep schedule getting interrupted, so he didn’t bother to give a response to the question. He knew that Bakugou wasn’t looking for an answer anyway, he just wanted to complain.
“Hey, y’all!” Denki was the next to bounce into the room. He paused, rubbing his face. “It’s so early!”
“Yeah! I’m excited though!” Deku nodded his head enthusiastically, finally feeling a little bit more alive after eating something. He watched as Jirou and Hagakure entered the room, looking exhausted. “I wonder what kind of training Mr. Aizawa has prepared? What skills will it help us increase?”
“I’m not sure, though I will admit that I am interested.” Tokoyami was the next to come out, his voice even deeper than usual. As more and more people entered, Deku could feel the mood of the whole class shifting from one of annoyance and confusion to one of curiosity and hopefulness. Whatever happened next, it was sure to be eventful.
By the time Deku left the main building and headed outside, there were only a few people fully prepared. Aizawa was standing in the front of the bus with his back turned to the students, staring up at the night sky, his face obscured by the angle. Deku wasn’t sure whether the darkness was playing tricks on him, but the teacher’s shoulders looked tense.
Other than Aizawa, Todoroki, Momo, Shouji, Ururaka, Ojiro, and Satou were already there, standing near the side of the vehicle closest to where they would get on. Most of them looked awake, Though Satou and Ojiro looked like they just wanted nothing more than to crawl back into their beds.
“Morning Deku!” Uraraka called as Deku came closer. She flashed him a small smile, looking lively. After a few seconds though she yawned, rubbing her eyes. “Early, isn’t it?”
“For sure!” Deku agreed, returning her smile somewhat sheepishly. Something seemed wrong, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. I’m sure everything is part of Aizawa’s plan, he tried to reassure himself as he stopped next to Uraraka.
“Yeah, it’s only a little past midnight,” Todoroki stepped over, entering himself in the conversation as he checked his watch. “I wonder what kind of hero training this could be? Possibly a test of how well we work on assignments while deprived of a healthy amount of sleep?” Todoroki showed no signs of being tired, his voice in the same neutral tone that it would be midday.
“I was wondering that too!” Uraraka tilted her head in thought. Deku began to ponder it for himself. What reason would the teacher have for getting them all up hours before the sun rose? Is there a benefit to working in the dark? Are we going to meet up with someone?
“I’m sure whatever Mr. Aizawa has planned, it’ll help us make excellent progress!” Deku nearly jumped as Iida came up behind them, apparently done handing out food. He joined their little group, sharing his own thoughts on the situation.
“I agree!” Even though he said it, Deku wasn’t sure he meant it. He didn’t want to doubt his teacher, but at the same time, his unease was only growing. He kept sneaking glances towards the adult standing just a short distance away, but it wasn’t settling his nerves.
They continued in casual conversation for a few minutes until everyone was fully prepared and ready to go. Deku nervously wrung his hands as they began to board the bus, the chatter dying down as everyone found a seat. Deku found himself in a seat in between Tsuyu and Mina.
“So where do you think we’re heading?” Tsuyu asked somewhat quietly once everyone was seated, her little frog croak adding to the end of the inquiry.
“No idea! Hey Mr. Aizawa, where are we going?” Mina’s voice rang out before Deku could respond, defeating the purpose of Tsuyu being quiet in the first place.
“I told you I wasn’t going to be able to give you any information Ashido.” Aizawa sounded irritated, though Deku figured he was probably just tired. “All right, everyone prepared? You have absolutely nothing on your person other than your clothes, correct?”
“Uh… Sir, I’ve still got my phone.” Sero commented from in front of Deku, sounding incredibly uncertain. Aizawa sighed. “Does anyone else have devices on them?”
Deku checked his pockets quickly, although he already knew that there wasn’t anything in there. The class took a couple of moments to pass anything they had with them to their teacher.
“Right,” Aizawa concluded with a grumble. “Now we can leave.” The teacher pulled out a piece of technology from his own pocket, and Deku noted that he couldn’t recognize it.
Huh, I wonder if he got a new phone. With that last exchange, they were finally on the road. Deku looked around, trying to gauge how everyone was doing.
Bakugou was sitting near the front, closest to the teacher and across from the door, slouched down in his seat in a way that looked uncomfortable. To his right sat Jirou, her head leaned against the window. It seemed as though she may have been asleep. Directly behind them sat Aoyama and Sero, who were both sitting mostly upright, and though Deku could only see the back of their heads, he could tell that they were both awake.
Across the aisle from Aoyama and Sero was where Denki and Ururaka were sitting, both already knocked out again. Denki had his head down which made him slightly hard to spot, but as soon as Deku did he realized that the other boy was leaning his head against the window in a similar fashion to Jirou. Ururaka’s position didn’t look super easy to sleep in. She was attempting to use her arm rested across the top of her seat as a pillow. However, it must have been more comfortable than it looked because she didn’t seem to be waking up anytime soon.
After those two rows of people, the bus broke away into a U shape with seats lining the walls. Deku himself was sitting behind Sero and Aoyama, with Tsuyu who was wide awake on his left, and Mina who was nodding off to his right. On Mina’s right side was the sleeping form of Hagakure, and although Deku couldn’t see it, it seemed as though her head may have been resting on Mina’s shoulder.
Deku had to lean forward to see Satou and Kouda sitting at the end of the row to his left. Their eyes were shut, though it was hard to tell if either of them were asleep or not. Next to Kouda, at the very back of the bus, sat Tokoyami, Momo, and Todoroki. It only took a glance to tell that all three of them were still wide awake, looking alert. Shouji’s rather large body was placed in the corner seat between the row on the side across from Deku and the back, and Deku was fairly certain that he was unconscious.
Finally, Mineta, Iida, Kirishima, and Ojiro lined the side of the bus that Deku wasn’t sitting on. Mineta was curled up in his seat asleep, Iida was facing forward, his back straight, but looking tired. Kirishima was resting his head on his shoulder somewhat awkwardly, and Ojiro was sitting politely yet relaxed. Every so often he’d close his eyes for a little bit longer than a blink, before shaking his head slightly to wake himself up again.
I guess nobody else is worried at all about this , Deku forced himself to let go of his doubt. He still couldn’t shake the bad feeling, but he had enough trust in Aizawa to finally sit back and curl himself up in his seat slightly.
He didn’t intend to fall asleep, but after a while of listening to the quiet noises of the bus moving along the road and the soft sounds of his classmates breathing, Deku felt his eyelids beginning to droop. Eventually he relented and allowed his eyes to shut.
With hardly a moment to reconsider, Deku drifted off into the darkness.