Work Text:
Aizawa decided that Kacchan needed some more field experience that wasn’t being cornered by serial killers in back alleys, so he decided to introduce him to Viridian.
“Alright Kacchan, you ready to meet Viridian?” Aizawa asked. The blonde grunted.
“Whatever hobo man.” The two were waiting on a rooftop, Eraser scanning the horizon for Viridan. Soon there was a dull thud behind him. And then all hell broke loose.
“K-kacchan!?” Viridian seemed startled to say the least but that was nothing compared to Kacchan’s reaction.
“You’re Viridian?!” He screeched. “So you’re taking the entrance exams right?”
“Er, well you see..”
“Oh that’s bullshit! If you’re a vigilante, you’ll crush the exam with no problem!”
“You know I can’t be a hero Kacchan! You know my diagnosis!”
“You can’t just live by what some shitty doctor told you ten years ago!”
“The doctor isn’t the only reason!” Kacchan went silent for a second, expression almost shameful.
“So no Kacchan. I will not be taking the entrance exams. I’d fail the practical anyway.”
“Oh please! All you’d need is your slingshot and your brain! That’s how you’re doing all this anyways!” Viridian shook his head, resolute in his decision. But Kacchan wasn’t having that apparently.
“I’ll tell Auntie.” Viridian froze.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.” Aizawa was wishing that he had popcorn right about now.
“You’re bluffing.” Viridian said, voice wavering.
“Am I?” Kacchan grinned, pulling out his phone and dialing a number.
Viridian watched him in horror as the person on the other line picked up.
“Alright! Fine! I’ll do it, just don’t tell her!” Kacchan smirked, victorious, before talking into the phone.
“Hey Auntie, I just had a nightmare, wanted to see if you were alright. Love you too. Bye.” and he hung up. Aizawa decided to speak up.
“Well that was interesting. Wanna tell me what that was all about?” The two boys ran for their lives.
---The next day---
Izuku pov
He rolled out of bed, grumpy. Of Course Kacchan would pull something like that the day before the entrance exams. He pulled on his hoodie, black leggings, and steel toed boots, quickly throwing things into his bag. He hoped and prayed that UA would let him use his slingshot. Technically it wasn’t a support item, just an everyday item that’s available to the public.
He jogged to the train station, heading to UA. When he arrived at the gates he was seriously considering just letting Kacchan tell his mother about his late night activities. He wasn’t allowed to delve that train of thought either as an aggravatingly familiar voice sounded behind him.
“Nice to see that you showed up, nerd.” Kacchan said, coming up next to him.
“Wasn’t for lack of trying Kacchan.” He responded, drawing a laugh from the boy next to him.
“Hey. come over when we get our letters okay?” The blonde asked. Izuku just shrugged. He didn’t really see the harm in doing that as he fully expected to just bomb the test.
“Well.” he muttered, “Might as well do my best since I’m here.” and with that he headed in.
----A few hours later----
A flood of students flooded out of the written testing area and swarmed to the cafeteria. Lunch Rush was serving a bunch of energy replenishing meals to help prepare the students for the physical portion of the entrance exam. Izuku decided to go up to one of the teachers and ask if he could use his slingshot.
He had done a brief scan of the rules and it said that any support items required to help control the users quirk was allowed but any other quirk enhancing items had to be approved. He had know clue as to what he would do considering his distinct lack of quirk.
“Excuse me?” he said to the back of who he assumed to be Present Mic. The man startled a bit, whirling around to face Izuku.
“Oh!” the man exclaimed, catching sight of him. “How can I help you?”
“I was wondering if I could use my slingshot during the physical? Since it’s not a quirk booster and available to everyone?” the hero hummed in thought.
“Well I don’t really know. I’ll have to ask Shota, he knows the protocols more than I do!. So how bout you come with me and we’ll go ask him together.” Izuku nodded and followed the voice hero down the hall to what he assumed to be the teachers lounge.
“SHOTA!” he shouted as he burst through the door. Izuku flinched at the sudden volume but thankfully it went unnoticed. Present Mic approached a yellow caterpillar (?) and started shaking it. A groan emanated from the cocoon. Then it split open and Izuku’s heart stopped.
“What do you want Hizashi?” said the man who emerged from the yellow abomination. Also known as Eraserhead.
“This little listener wants to know if he can use his slingshot for the practical since it doesn’t enhance his quirk and anyone can get it?” He gestured to the frozen Izuku who was still standing in the doorway. The underground hero stared at him, eyes lingering on his hoodie before his brow furrowed in thought. Eventually he pulled out his phone and sent a text to someone. The reply came almost instantly.
“Well the rat says it’s fine so you’re good kid. Now go to lunch.” the hero said gruffly. Izuku nodded slowly then booked it back to the cafeteria.
“Huh.” Present Mic said, staring at the suddenly empty space, “Wonder what that was about?”
Eraserhead hummed. “I think I might know…” he muttered, low enough that the voice hero didn’t quite hear him.
------with Izuku-------
And so he raced back to the cafeteria, panic crawling up his throat. Oh god, Izuku thought Eraser’s here. Why is Eraser here? The panic clouded his vision and he barely registered running into someone? Then a familiar voice broke through the fog.
“Nerd?” came Kacchan’s gruff voice. His hands grasped at the track suit the boy wore.
“‘Raser-” he gasped, “He’s here-” strong hands came to grip his biceps.
“Izuku- Izuku look at me.” He demanded. Izuku slowly raised his eyes to meet wine red ones.
“You’ll be alright okay? If he tries something I’ll be here okay? And your sparky friend as well. We’ll keep you safe. For now, focus on kicking robot ass okau?” Izuku nodded, “good. Now get up, let’s go eat.” Izuku made it to the cafeteria and finally managed to grab some food, scarfing it down as quick as he could, lunch was almost over after all.
“Slow down a bit, you still have a bit of time before the briefing.” Kacchan chuckled. Izuku just rolled his eyes and set his, now empty, plate off to the side. That had taken about twenty or
“Well we should get going to our buses now” Izuku held out his hand, “Good luck Kacchan!” the blonde gripped his hand briefly before pulling him into a hug.
“I don’t need luc, nerd” he grumbled, pulling back to look Izuku in the eyes. “But you better not slack off.” Izuku laughed before promising not to and ran off to the bus that would take him to testing site A. It took a few minutes to get there and everyone was lingering by the gates when they did. Izuku spotted a girl who seemed very nervous. He started to walk toward her before he got startled by someone grabbing his shoulder.
He blamed his instincts. Months of vigilantism will do that to someone. So he judo flipped the person over his shoulder. The boy who had shouted at the briefings landed with a loud and heavy thump. It drew the eyes of everyone in his area.
“P-please don’t s-sneak up on m-me like that?” He whispered, “it b-brings back bad m-memories.” Everyone’s eyes turned to the boy, looking at him with slight disgust. He stood up and marched up to Izuku.
“You were going to distract that girl weren’t you?” He demanded. Izuku shook his head.
“I w-was just t-trying to get to t-the gate…”
“AND! Faking PTSD? That’s very unheroic! And I’m going to have to ask you to reconsider schools. Or careers.” That set Izuku off. His shy demeanor turned cold.
“Faking PTSD? Now why in the world would I do that?” He said, voice sending chills down all who overheard, the boy was practically frozen to the spot.
“Also. Why do you care what others do? We’re all here to get into the hero course so maybe you should focus on yourself. You’re very pompous aren’t you? Assuming so much. Tell me, do we know each other?” He asked. The boy shook his head.
“So do you know what I’ve gone through? You immediately know me by stalking me? Frankly it’s quite worrying how obsessed you seem to be with me.” Quiet snickers sounded through their audience.
“As someone who has been put down their whole life, told over and over to just give up on my dreams, what you said doesn't hurt as much as it would if that had been the first time I had been told to give up. You don’t know other people's situations so don’t assume shit until you know someone.” The gates opened and Izuku took off, immediately firing off a marble at a robot, making a sizable dent in the metal but not shutting it off.
He steadied himself with a deep breath, taking aim once again, using some rubble as ammo this time, (he didn’t want to waste his marbles here) and he let it fly, striking the robot in the neck, shutting it off. Grinning, Izuku ran off, hitting robot after robot and racking up more and more points. Then the zero pointer happened. He noticed the girl from before stuck under the rubble, in the path of the giant.
Even if there wasn't someone in trouble he probably would have run towards the giant. Hey. He blamed his instincts again. It’s just what he was used too. But he didn’t run towards the giant. No, he reverted back to his starting gig. He ran to the examinees. He had seen someone who grew extra limbs and ripped the robots apart. He picked up a stone and fired it at their calf, it caught their attention even if they were a bit annoyed.
“Sorry but I need your help, there’s a person stuck under the rubble in the robots path. I’m not strong enough to lift the concrete, but I’ve seen you rip the robots apart so please follow me.” And then he took off. The routine was still so familiar. It seemed like yesterday that he was doing this to actual heroes. He didn’t need to check to see if the person was following him (he could hear them). He brought them to the girl.
“You can reduce the weight of stuff right?” He asked her. She nodded but seemed like she was going to puke soon. Okay can you use your quirk on the slab?” She nodded, pressing her hand to the concrete, the person he’d gotten grabbed the slab and, after a moment's indecision, threw it at the robot. Meanwhile Izuku was checking in with the girl, who had started to throw up.
“You okay?” She made a shaky so-so gesture with her hand.
“My leg hurts.” she rasped. Izuku started gently pressing on her leg until she winced.
“Looks like it’s just a sprain but make sure to get that checked out, I don’t have any official medical training.”
“Good call dearie.” A new voice joined them. Izuku looked up to see Recovery Girl walking toward him. She pressed a kiss to the girl's head before humming.
“You were right, just a sprain. Are you hurt anywhere?” Izuku shook his head, as did the person next to him.
“Thanks for helping by the way.” He said. The person shrugged
“You seemed like you knew what you were doing.” Izuku shrugged back.
-----A week later-----
Izuku walked over to Kacchans house, a tiny backpack weighing down his mind. It held the results of his exam and he was incredibly nervous. He knew that he most likely didn’t get in but there was always that little sliver of hope that he might get in. He took a deep breath, knocking on the door he had stopped in front of.
“Hello? Oh! Izuku hello!” the woman who had opened the door said in pleasant surprise. “Katsuki just got his UA letter and we’re about to open it, would you like to come in?” He gave her a shaky smile.
“Yeah Auntie, I promised after all.” He said, pulling his own letter from his bag. Her eyes widened along with the grin on her face.
“I didn’t know you had taken the exam kiddo!” she crowed, pulling him into the house and into a crushing hug.
“Masaru!” she called, “Izuku’s here!” There was a loud thumping noise from upstairs and Kacchan came barreling down them, skidding to a stop in front of the two.
“You got it?” he asked, practically vibrating with excitement. Izuku just nodded from his mothers embrace. Masaru appeared a few moments later, kind smile on his face.
“Let’s go to the living room and open the letters.” he suggested and no one disagreed, Mitsuki let him go and they headed to the living room, settling around the table. After a game of rock, paper, scissors, Kacchan had gone first. He ripped open the envelope and a disk fell onto the table.
They all stared at it in confusion before it flickered to life, a hologram hovering over it. It was All Might. He started a speech about the exams but he was quickly pushed out of frame by none other than Easerhead.
“Sup Kacchan.” He grumbled. “I’ll get straight to the point. You got an 86 on the written portion, second place there. You got 70 villain points, no rescue points, second place there as well. You got into class 1-A, my class you little hellion. Welcome to UA.” and then the disk shut off before beeping ominously. Izuku panicked, throwing it out the, thankfully open, window where it exploded with confetti.
“Sorry?” he whispered. Mitsuki and Kacchan started laughing. Even Masaru couldn’t hide a few chuckles.
“Alright nerd. Your turn.” he said after he calmed down. Izuku took a deep breath, ripping open his envelope. The start was basically the same. All Might started out before getting interrupted by Eraser.
“Sup problem child.” He was grinning this time. “You did good. You got a 99 on the written portion placing you in first. You got 66 villain points,” Kacchan started cackling at his slightly higher score, “ and 50 rescue points, giving you 116 points overall and placing you in first. You’re in 1-A along with Kacchan and your sparky boy. Welcome to UA hellion. Oh and, there’s a letter in your envelope. Make sure to read that.” and then the disc shut off and exploded into confetti. He..he got first? Wait Eraser said he had gotten a letter as well. He grabbed his envelope and pulled it out. The rest of the Bakugou’s were excitedly celebrating but Kacchan noticed the paper in Izuku’s shaky hands. He crouched down next to him.
“Hey nerd, you in there?” Izuku nodded, “Good now stop overthinking and open the letter. I’m sure it’s nothing bad.” Izuku nodded again, opening the letter.
Dear Viridian,
Hey kiddo. Bet you weren’t expecting that huh?I wanted to let you know that you did amazing and I am so proud of you. Did you know that your scores have set a record? So if anyone ever doubts your place at UA (even yourself) remember that you set a record that was higher than All Might’s. And I don’t know what beef he has with you but if he bothers you, let me know. And I looked at your file. And I want you to know that everything you did just got that much more impressive. You’re a lot stronger than a lot of pros I know simply because of that. You’re going to be amazing, kiddo.
-Your favorite, Eraserhead
The letter dropped out of Izuku’s hands, tears streaming down his face. He was smiling. It was his first real smile in a long time. He looked to Kacchan who was looking at him worriedly.
“He said I’m going to be amazing.”
