Chapter Text
Izuku stared up at the enormous door that would lead to his new classroom as he tried to talk his anxiety into shutting up for once in his life. He was miserably losing that argument. But it was important that he tried. After all, it was the first day of his life at Yuuei. If he couldn’t even make it through the door to his class then what kind of mood was he setting for the next three years?
“Oh hey it’s the pinball guy,” a cheerful voice shouted down the hall drawing his attention. The girl from the entrance exam! Close behind her was the boy he’d saved from the two pointer too!
“Pinball,” he felt himself saying as confusion washed over him. He glanced around and sure enough he was the only other one in the hall so they had to be talking about him.
The girl smiled sheepishly. “Ah, yeah, sorry. It’s just you were kind of out of it and we weren’t allowed to stay until you woke up so I didn’t catch your name.”
“But where did pinball come from?”
Purple snorted. “Seriously? The way you were bouncing off of buildings made you look like a pinball. I’m pretty sure everyone from our testing grounds was talking about you,” he said plainly.
“Oh,” Izuku replied, almost in shock. Apparently, he had picked up a few things from Gran. Enough to make him memorable at least.
“Besides, I prefer Pinball to Tentacles. Some of the kids only got to see the second aspect to your quirk and it kind of stuck.”
And suddenly, he wanted to crawl in a hole and die. There were actual people calling him Tentacles.
The girl laughed. “Your performance was pretty awesome though!” She was pointedly avoiding commenting on that, which was nice of her. “Anyway, I’m Uraraka Ochako. I wanted to thank you for saving my butt from the zero pointer so I’m glad we ended up in the same class.”
“Yeah, it was no problem,” he said with a smile before properly introducing himself to them. A flash of yellow drew his attention away from the two of them for a moment. Being around Gran made him a bit paranoid for any sneak attacks and he was pretty sure the color yellow sent him into reflex mode. Maybe he was a bit too paranoid though. Yuuei was probably the one place he didn’t have to worry about Gran popping up to test his situational awareness.
But as his eyes landed on a bright yellow sleeping bag containing his homeroom teacher he couldn’t help but think that maybe those little tests were doing him some good, despite the paranoia.
“If you’re just here to make friends you can save all of us time and leave,” Aizawa said blandly as he stared up at the three of them looking more tired than usual.
Izuku stepped to the side and opened the door for him then proceeded to watch him crawl into the room like a caterpillar. For someone so insistent on being logical Aizawa sure did love to fuck with people and who was Izuku to hold him back? Especially when no less than three people were staring with their jaws on the floor.
Before he had much time to process he zoomed through changing into a PE uniform- he was very thankful that Yuuei had private changing rooms because he was absolutely not okay with a room full of people staring at his soulmarks- and outside on a field waiting for the stragglers to catch up.
He was doing his absolute best to ignore the daggers violently digging into his back but Bakugo was making it difficult with every second that passed. He’d been more and more suspicious with each day that passed. It didn’t help that his middle school homeroom teacher had called them both to the teacher’s lounge to congratulate them on making it in- though he made sure to get in some jabs at Izuku. The prick had gone as far to mention that Izuku had gotten first place which was completely unnecessary. Bakugo had already known Izuku got first from the acceptance video that had the top ten results.
Izuku had been dodging him at every turn, fully utilizing all the training he’d gotten from Gran and- more recently- Aizawa. Parkour lessons had been the greatest thing he’d ever had. The first time he jumped out a three story window, eyes locked with Bakugo’s the whole time, had been unbelievably cathartic. The shock and horror on his former friend’s face that melted into some indistinguishable emotion when he saw Izuku put his training to use? Nothing could replace that. Izuku wished he had gotten a picture for commemorative purposes.
He knew that it wouldn’t last forever though. Now that they were in Yuuei together Bakugo was going to catch up to him eventually. They were learning to be heroes after all. That meant training. Training to fight. And once he used his quirk, Bakugo was going to lose it.
A small part of him still held onto the fear that middle school instilled in him. The fear that he would be on the receiving end of the blame once again. He stubbornly shoved those thoughts away as best as he could because he knew that wasn’t right. Aizawa would never. Unless it really was Izuku starting it it never was .
His adamant avoidance of Bakugo was exactly why he had the urge to dramatically scream or throw himself into the void or both when the words ‘Quirk Apprehension Test’ came out of Aizawa’s mouth. But because he had survival instincts he did none of those things. Apparently, very few people in his new class liked living.
He hadn’t been too concerned about the test originally because Aizawa was a fair person. Strict, but fair. However, a wave of dread washed over him the moment he heard someone say that this would be fun with various cheers of agreement. He had the sudden urge to strangle a few of his classmates and he probably would have if he had less self control.
He could feel a nearly crushing wave of anxiety creeping up his back despite the fact that he had full confidence in himself to manage at least the middle ground. If he had known his classmates' quirks he probably could have come up with a more accurate placement but he was working with what he had, which wasn’t much.
He and Bakugo were paired up first for the fifty meter dash. Lovely. He took a deep breath and got in position. He could only use about seven percent of One For All at the moment but it was more than enough for this. His percentage had been skyrocketing since Aizawa took him to Recovery Girl for an updated meal plan. He had five full meals on top of various professional grade snacks throughout the day. He ate so much during the day but it was worth it.
The moment the timer went off One For All was roaring in his veins and he shot past Bakugo leaving the blonde stumbling forward with a shocked look on his face. Izuku passed with a nice 3.01 seconds but he’s pretty sure the shock knocked Bakugo down by a lot. He couldn’t help the slight satisfaction he got from that.
Izuku crushed the following exams- if only he could crush his anxiety the same way- so he wasn’t worried about his placement. All he had left was the ball throw but there were still a few others who had to go before him. Uraraka’s infinity score was beyond impressive, and her quirk was just as cool but he’d get the time to ask her about that later.
He eyed the pitch quietly. He had contemplated using blackwhip for a few of the tests but ultimately decided against it. It would have made a few tests- like the long jump- easier but he still didn’t have the fine tuned control over it that he would need to use it without hurting someone.
The problem with blackwhip is that he can summon it with absolutely no issue but controlling it and dispelling it was an absolute pain. He was getting better thanks to the lessons with Aizawa but he wasn’t quite there yet. A few more sessions and he was sure he would have it and hopefully he would have some breathing room before another quirk showed its face.
Soon enough it was his go and he came to a stop in the middle of the pitch and held the ball in his hand. He had been thinking of a new technique with one for all and since the ball throw was the last test he could do it without worrying about working through any aches or pains.
He took a deep breath and activated One For All. Just as he was about to lose all contact with the ball he cranked the percentage up to thirty. It was only for a second but it should have been enough to launch it a great distance further than it would have gone with seven percent.
506.3
“What the hell, Deku,” Bakugo screeched as he threw himself forward with his quirk, fury painted on his face. He didn’t get far before his quirk sputtered out and thick strips of cloth wrapped around him jerking him backward violently.
“Enough,” Aizawa bit out harshly. “Attacking other students outside of supervised combat training is not acceptable. You only get one warning. Do it again and you’ll be punished accordingly.” He released his capture weapon once he was sure Bakugo had settled down enough that he wouldn’t go straight for another attack.
Izuku let out a barely audible sigh of relief and made his way back to the sidelines just as Purple walked up to the pitch. Izuku was insanely curious about Purple’s quirk. He barely remembered anything of it from the entrance exam except that he felt a wave of neutrality wash over him. He would go as far as to say it was peaceful. There were so many options as to what it could be but as he thought back to the lack of free range he had managed to cross out anything involving strictly emotion based quirks. It was a little too rigid for that.
Purple was staring down at the ball like it was going to kill him before an idea seemed to come to his head and he turned his gaze to the sidelines until it stopped. “Uraraka,” he called out hesitantly. “Do you mind doing something for me?”
Uraraka tilted her head a bit confused before she answered, “Yeah, of course.” Her eyes glazed over almost immediately.
“Come here.” All eyes were on Purple as Uraraka walked forward in a daze until she came to a stop in front of him. “Use your quirk on this ball.”
Everyone watched as the ball soared into the air just as Uraraka had done before. Izuku was grinning and trying his hardest not to bounce up and down from excitement. It had to be brainwashing of some sort! That’s so cool!
Aizawa pulled up the results of the apprehension test for everyone to see and Izuku’s eyes scoured the list. He didn’t have to look far because he was sitting firmly in second place. A wide grin spread over his face as he scanned the rest of the list full of names he- for the most part- didn’t recognize.
“By the way, I lied. I won’t be expelling anyone,” Aizawa said. “There is a stack of syllabi on the first desk back in the classroom. Make sure you take one before you leave.” With that he turned and shambled off, probably to the teacher’s lounge where he could nap in relative peace until their quirk training session later.
He could feel red eyes piercing into the back of his skull as everyone made their way back to the changing rooms and it was setting his nerves on edge- as if he needed any help in that department. Thankfully, he managed to escape into one of the private changing rooms and by the time he was out Bakugo had already vanished.
He sighed in relief as he walked to the classroom. He’d probably head to the teacher’s lounge afterward. There was no point in leaving school grounds for maybe twenty minutes tops and then coming right back.
“Hey, Pinball,” Purple called out.
Izuku stopped in his tracks and looked back at Purple, who was currently trying to catch up while also trying to pull his shoe on. It brought a slightly amused smile to his face. “Hey, Purple. What’s up,” he asked.
That stopped him in his tracks as he sent him a confused look. “Purple?”
“Well, I haven’t had the chance to get your name and your hair is lavender. It was better than calling you ‘that guy’ in my head.”
“Fair enough. My name is Shinso Hitoshi. I-uh.. I caught up with you because I wanted to thank you. For the entrance exam I mean. I was kind of caught up in my head most of the time. All I could think about was how unfair the test was because my quirk doesn’t exactly work on non-sentient things. If you hadn’t crashed in and told me to get my head out of my ass I wouldn’t have passed,” Shinso said, rubbing the back of his neck. He was staring at the ground with a small frown on his face.
“I don’t remember telling anyone to get their head out of their ass,” Izuku jokingly replied. “But no problem. Sometimes it’s hard to think around things when it seems like everything is set against you. But that’s what a good support system is there for. And if you ever need help I am more than willing to provide. I like you, you come off as standoffish but if you were really a bad person you wouldn’t have risked villain points to help me get control of my quirk in the entrance exam. You deserve to be here just as much as everyone else. You earned it, Shinso.”
Shinso pulled his eyes from the ground to stare at him with an almost shocked expression before he broke into a small smile. “Thanks, Pinball. I appreciate it.”
“I’m never gonna lose that nickname, am I?”
“Not a chance.”
Izuku found himself heading to the teacher’s lounge not long after that interaction with a brand new number in his phone. He made a friend! He opened the door and came to a screeching halt. This was his worst nightmare. He thought he was safe here. Yuuei was supposed to be safe.
“Hey, brat,” Gran said. He was sitting at his very own desk, complete with a name plate, with a smirk on his face.
Fuck.
Izuku was frustrated but that was a normal thing at this point. It wasn’t even the worst he had felt and the interaction he had with Shinso seemed to do him wonders. It kind of soured a little bit when he had gotten over seeing Gran in the teacher’s lounge- apparently he had accepted a teacher’s aide position- and sat down in the windowsill to stare at the vacating student population.
The crowd had thinned out quite a bit in the time that Izuku had gotten changed. Just enough for him to make out someone pacing furiously near the front gate, occasionally stopping and staring at the front doors of the building only to start pacing again. Upon closer inspection Izuku was able to make out Bakugo’s angry features and he just knew that Bakugo was waiting for him. In a place where he couldn’t run without causing a major scene and it pissed Izuku off until Bakugo left and his training began.
It pissed him off to know that Bakugo would so blatantly use someone’s anxiety against them and it pissed him off even more that Bakugo had the audacity to think Izuku owed him anything let alone answers. Especially since he was planning on cornering him so he had no choice but to talk.
But it was okay because Izuku knew he didn’t owe him anything. Bakugo wasn’t the person he once knew. Thinking back on it, Bakugo had never been what he thought he was. Izuku had been too blinded by his admiration for him to see just how awful he had always been. The past year had been a long and hard one but Izuku was learning what it was to be around people that really cared and it was doing wonders for him.
So he thought of all the people he had met over the past year and breathed. He thought of All Might- Toshinori. He said to call him Toshinori. He thought of Toshinori and how he felt when they realized they were soulmates. How relieved and nearly euphoric when he realized that everyone was wrong and his soulmate did want him.
He thought of Gran who came crashing into his life- literally- and turned everything upside down with his odd but honestly great sense of humor. Seeing someone run circles around Toshinori was hilarious. Gran didn’t act like it but he cared. He was the first actual teacher that had ever put in any kind of effort with Izuku and had single handedly restored Izuku’s faith in authority figures.
He thought of Aizawa and how much effort he put in despite his general aloof nature. He was willing to work with Izuku. He had never seen someone go through so much effort for a kid they barely knew and Aizawa could insist that it was just his job as a teacher all he wanted but, from Izuku’s experience, this was more. Izuku had seen him studying a binder full of profiles compiled by him, Gran, Toshinori, and Nedzu dozens of times just to be fully prepared for anything that could crop up.
He thought of Uraraka. She was cheerful and bright and so open about her intentions and desires. It was like a breath of fresh air being around someone his age that wasn’t angry or disgusted by his general existence. It was nice and he was glad he had made the beginnings of a friendship with her.
He thought of Shinso. He could understand the frustration Shinso felt so well because he’d felt it so many times before. It was a kinship that he’d never thought would happen with anyone. An understanding between two people who had a chance in a world that was designed against them. He thought of how earnest Shinso had been when they spoke that afternoon and all he wanted was to be someone the boy could count on. Izuku had gained so many people he trusted to pick him back up if he needed it and he had no problem being that person for someone else.
He thought and he breathed. Blackwhip lashed out in multiple strands simultaneously ripping through the center of the five targets Aizawa had set up for quirk training today. He could barely feel the strain in his arm at this point which was nice. He furrowed his brows in concentration and blackwhip receded, shrinking until he faded from existence, sinking back into him until he called it forth again.
He did it. He did it! He finally called Blackwhip back on his own without Aizawa needing to activate erasure! He whirled around with a large grin on his face that grew in size when he saw Toshinori standing beside Aizawa with a proud smile on his face.
“Toshinori,” he shouted and launched himself forward happily. “I did it!”
Toshinori laughed and caught Izuku in his arms. “You did good, Izuku. I’m proud of how far you’ve come in such a short amount of time.”
Aizawa rolled his eyes and said, “Hate to break up the happy family but we still have fifteen minutes left.” He clicked a button on a remote and a whirring of machinery could be heard as the targets were replaced. “Your next goal is to not completely destroy your target. Aim for piercing the center next instead of ripping them in half because you will absolutely not be allowed to do that with human bodies. Once you’re able to master that we’ll be going to moving targets next.”
Once Toshinori got a few more seconds of hug time in Izuku was released and he gave Aizawa a salute. “Gotcha!” He turned and ran back to the same spot he was occupying before.
“And kid,” Aizawa called, drawing Izuku’s attention back to him. “You did good. Keep it up.”
Izuku beamed and turned back to face the new targets. He could feel the clouds decorating his chest and shoulder buzz with a soft kind of warmth. It made happy tears sting at the corners of his eyes.
By some sheer dumb luck, Izuku had managed to avoid Bakugo for two-ish days. The first official day of school, the day after the quirk apprehension tests, was full of notes, notes, and even more notes. The first half of the day is devoted to academics and the second half is for heroics. They spent the entire time going over basic rules, safety procedures, and expectations for the first few classes the first day.
The second day they put what they learned to use with a session of hide and seek inside one of the fake cities. All Might and Gran Torino were the seekers. Of course, because this is Yuuei it had a twist. If you were caught there would be a quick sparring session. It would test where each student was in stealth and combat because there is absolutely no one in a class of first years who had the ability to hide from All Might or Gran Torino, let alone both, for any amount of time. Afterwards they reviewed the footage and went over where each student went wrong and where they went right.
He had done well but Bakugo caught onto him just as he was making his way to Gym Upsilon because gods forbid he wanted to do some extra training before Aizawa came by instead of waiting in the teacher’s lounge.
Rough hands grabbed him from behind by the jacket of his uniform and slammed him into the wall of the gym he was about to key into.
“Alright you damn nerd. It’s about time I caught up to you, Deku,” Bakugo grit out. Rage filled red eyes glared down at him. “Now you’re gonna talk and it better be fucking good. When the hell did you get a damn quirk? You think you’re too good to use it? You think you’re better than me? Answer me damn it!”
He hadn’t even had a chance to open his mouth let alone form words. Thankfully a familiar capture weapon wrapped around Bakugo tightly and jerked him away without mercy.
Aizawa, Toshinori, and Gran were all standing there with matching expressions of disappointment aimed at Bakugo. Toshinori had a hand resting on his chest rubbing his thumb against his shirt, right over the clouds he had shown Izuku one day after training. It was pretty obvious why they had all decided to show up now.
“Midoriya,” Aizawa started, “Training is canceled for today. I think we all need to have a talk. Go with Yagi to one of the private meeting rooms. We’ll meet you both there when we’re done with Bakugo.”
Toshinori put a hand on Izuku’s shoulder and guided him back to the main building down hallways and up stairs until they came to a nice room not far off the teacher’s lounge.
“Are you alright, my boy,” Toshinori asked with concern lacing his voice.
“Yeah of course. That’s pretty normal all things considered. I’ve been avoiding him and I knew he would catch up with me eventually,” Izuku said nonchalantly.
Toshinori frowned at the admission, seeming to take a moment to compose himself and put his words in order. “Izuku. I always knew that you weren’t telling me much about your school life and I never wanted to push too much because you seemed uncomfortable but after not one but two incidents with Bakugo I can’t not push anymore.”
He sighed and reached up to rub the back of his neck with a frown. “I know. I kind of figured that this would be coming soon. I always thought things would stay the same in school until I met Aizawa. I knew that if we ended up in the same class again that Aizawa wasn’t going to let him get away with the same things that everyone else did. I… I was kind of looking forward to it, to be honest. Does that make me a bad person?”
Toshinori rested a hand on his shoulder. “Of course it doesn’t. That makes you human. Society wants people to believe that any kind of thought that doesn’t strictly follow a near saintlike level of morality is bad but it’s not. There’s nothing wrong with wanting people to face the consequences of their actions. There’s not even anything wrong with hating someone for no reason. People seem to forget that emotions are not so easily controlled and emotions do not make people bad.”
The soulmark he shared with Toshinori buzzed with a feeling of warmth and affection spilling through making Izuku tear up a bit.
Toshinori stood suddenly and began searching the room. “I know just the thing we need. These rooms always have some kind of snacks stocked up. Would you prefer tea or coffee with them,” he asked as he pulled open a few drawers until he let out a soft ‘aha’ when he found the snack drawer.
“I’m kind of feeling coffee at the moment,” Izuku admitted as he stood to help his dad mentor bring a tray over to the sitting area.
It took a while for Aizawa and Gran to come to the room but when they did they both seemed to have an odd mix of concern, irritation, and satisfaction in their expressions.
Toshinori prayed that the problem was dealt with. The last thing his boy needed was an extra stressor to deal with in his life.
“What happened,” Izuku asked hesitantly from his spot on the couch.
“Bakugo has been expelled from Yuuei’s hero course. He will be moved to general education but he’s on thin ice even there,” Aizawa bluntly stated.
Toshinori watched a myriad of emotion pass over Izuku’s face and felt the conflicting feelings through their bond. He sighed and sat down in front of his son. “Izuku,” he started, “I need you to understand that none of this is your fault. You did not make Bakugo do any of the things that caused him to be expelled from the hero course. He has done this to himself. If any of your previous teacher’s had any kind of general competence he never would have gotten as far as he did with his behavior. It’s high time that he learns that his damaging actions have consequences.”
Izuku looked up at him. “I don’t understand. It’s not that bad is it?”
“Kid. We’ve been worried about you for a while now. When Blackwhip showed up we were only mildly concerned until we figured out what the trigger is for it. When we saw how easy it was for you to summon it but the struggle you had trying to dispel it,” Gran paused with a sigh. “You’re severely emotionally repressed. It comes from being in an environment where you can’t act or voice how you feel and Bakugo is a huge reason for that. It’s about time that brat got a wake up call.”
“Anyway,” Aizawa interjected. “We’re done for the day. Your mom is waiting to take you home. You should get some rest because tomorrow we’re making up for the training session you missed.”
“Right!” Izuku got to his feet in a rush, clearly trying to flee the conversation as fast as he could and Toshinori could almost feel traces of gratitude to Aizawa for the escape.
He managed to ruffle his son’s hair affectionately before watching him vanish down the hall. Once he was sure Izuku was gone he shut the door and turned to the other two in the room. “Alright. What exactly happened and why do I have a feeling it’s not good?”
Gran plopped down on the couch and snatched a taiyaki from the tray. “Probably because it wasn’t good.”
Aizawa took a seat next to him. “Nedzu is good at scouring information quickly. He managed to pull up enough incidents from Aldera that we fully intended to expel and blacklist Bakugo from every hero course in the country and possibly expel him completely from Yuuei. We called both Bakugo and Midoriya’s parents and the Bakugos got there first so we sent their son into the waiting room so we could talk over what was going to happen with their son. They weren’t exactly happy to be informed that their son had been bullying someone for years on end. We had almost worked everything out when Midoriya’s mother shows up and she’s appalled that Bakugo is going to be expelled and insists that he not be, even after becoming aware of everything he’s done to her son. I don’t think she believed it.”
“She threatened to get the hero commission involved. Apparently she has a desk job for them that gives her just enough access to the right people that would vouch for Bakugo due to his quirk. So Bakugo is not being expelled yet but if he fails to meet any of the conditions that we’ve set he will be and unlike other students he is not being given the opportunity to transfer back into heroics. However, this entire situation now has us concerned about Izuku and his home life,” Gran finished. Toshinori hadn’t seen him so pissed off since he’d personally dealt with one of the foster homes Toshinori had been assigned to.
He could absolutely not blame Gran for being pissed because he was doing his absolute best to reign in his emotions enough to keep from alerting Izuku to the fury bubbling under his skin.
“Take a breath, Yagi. Nedzu is already looking into things, especially your options as a parental soulmate. You know how thorough he is. He won’t let it go until he finds a suitable solution. Until then you need to be calm and collected for your kid,” Aizawa said matter-of-factly.
He sat back in his seat and closed his eyes for a moment. “Of course. It’s just… It’s just one thing after another and Izuku is always taking the brunt of it. One For All never showed any signs of anything that Izuku has been able to do so we’re having to handle things when they happen instead of being fully prepared for them. All of that on top of Bakugo and potentially his mother as well.” He ran a hand over his face and through his hair. “I’m worried it will all end up being too much for him.”
“We need to get him into therapy. It’s long overdue and red flags just keep popping up. At least if he has regular sessions he’ll be able to learn healthy ways of coping.” Aizawa took a long drink of his coffee but the look on his face made it clear he wanted something stronger- something that Toshinori felt on a spiritual level.
One thing was made abundantly clear today. Yagi Toshinori will do absolutely anything for his son to be safe and loved.