Work Text:
Tsuyu awoke to the quiet sound of her phone alarm, to which she rolled over in her bed onto her face, sighing deeply. She turned her head to stare unimpressed at her phone through strands of pine green hair, listening to the sound it made for a moment before sitting up, and dismissing the alarm. Her legs dangled off the edge of her bed as she checked the time, and with a stretch, she got off her bed and started her morning routine.
Her room was warmly lit by soft, artificial lighting. One light hung from her ceiling along with the fake vines, and it was shaped like a mushroom. When she had first moved in, Asui changed the light bulb in the lamp that each UA student got with their rooms to an orange colored bulb. The decorations in her room were minimal, but it all fit the same, nature theme throughout. Tsuyu's curtains were shut fully, as always. Anyone entering her room would've had no idea it was the morning, as no light escaped past her curtains. On her wall was a tapestry of various different species of moths.
Before putting the white button-up to her school uniform on, Tsuyu slipped a soft, ivory colored tank top on. The feeling of the button-up felt like sand paper against her skin, especially with it digging into her neck, and technically, it didn't state anywhere in the rule-book that she couldn't wear clothes under her uniform. They really should be more specific, if it isn't allowed. The women's uniform did allow for tights, though it wasn't mandatory, so Tsuyu slipped on soft black tights. They had some stretch to them, which made them sensory-friendly to her. Once the rest of her uniform was on, Asui secured her hair up off her neck with a large, Butterfly-shaped clip. The uniform rules also didn't say anything about fun-shaped hair-clips.
UA is a prestigious school, but due to some students having quirks that alter their bodies, the uniform regulation was not as strict as people may initially assume. And thank goodness for that, because if she couldn't at least make the uniform the tiniest bit comfier to wear, Tsuyu probably would have intentionally failed the entrance exam.
After finishing up the rest of her morning routine, Tsuyu slung her bag around her shoulder- a muted green corduroy bag, decorated with various bug pins and mushroom patches- and headed out the door, making her way to class.
----
Asui was always among the first people to arrive to class- Midoriya was quietly arguing with Bakugo, who seemed amused by Midoriya's frustration. Yaoyorozu was reading silently, but picked her head up to smile at Tsuyu when she walked in to class. In return, Asui only nodded politely and went to her seat. Iida was sat with Midoriya and Bakugo. When Uraraka made it to class, she turned to smile at Asui and waved at her. Tsuyu flashed a small smile on her face and waved back. She wasn't always good at being expressive of her emotions, but she would try to exaggerate her reactions sometimes. She always felt like the people around her learned something about social interactions she was never taught. Despite her quiet nature, Tsuyu was friendly! She didn't mind talking to her classmates, and often found their conversations amusing. Soon, the rest of the class filed in.
Not everyone in her class was a morning person. Some students- such as Denki, Tokoyami, and Sero- dragged themselves into the classroom closer to the ring of the late bell. Aizawa included. He emerged from a yellow sleeping bag behind the poduim at the front of the class with deep set, onyx eyes that scanned the classroom silently. At his action, the class's quiet murmuring had silenced, and their attention turned to their teacher. "Morning." He said, shrugging off his sleeping bag and sweeping it under his desk with his foot.
"Good morning, Mr. Aizawa, sir!" Iida boomed.
"Morning. A Monday morning is never good." Aizawa corrected. Tsuyu watched Mina glance at Kirishima, and the two shared amused grins. At the sight of her friend sharing the same reaction she had, Mina bit her lip to stifle her laughter, and put a hand over her mouth, quickly turning her head back away from him.
Tsuyu sat at the back of the class by the door. She read what was written on the chalk board behind Aizawa- minimal note taking to start the week, as well as a class agenda, and a few flyers stuck to the chalk board with a magnet. Class went on as usual- discussing upcoming school events, tests, and homework.
Then, the bell rang for lunch time, and Asui took her time packing her bag up, taking out a par of over the ear headphones and putting them around her neck. Uraraka waited for her patiently. Tsuyu slung her bag back over her shoulder, then turned to face the brunette.
"you ready?" Uraraka asked. Tsuyu nodded, and the two friends made their way towards the lunch room.
Once they entered the loud, crowded lunch room, Tsuyu put her headphones over her ears and traced over the stickers that decorated the headphones with her finger. They were all insect themed stickers. The two made their way to their lunch table, greeted by Midoriya, Iida and Todoroki. Tsuyu waved at the group, a small smile creeping its way on her face. She sat down and then pulled out her lunch from her bag.
"Tsu, you should add more variety to your diet! A young hero such as yourself needs more than just daily fruit snacks and turkey sandwiches to sustain themselves in battle!" Iida said. He then motioned to his bowl of noodles. "Would you like to try some of this?"
Tsuyu stared at his food like it had personally offended her, turning her nose up away from it. It was something she had tried before, but absolutely hated. The noodles always felt too slimy on her tongue because of the broth they were in. The vegetables in the bowl weren't bad by themselves, but were bad paired with the rest of the food. Also, it looks like he added soy to it, which would only make the noodles feel slimier and the salt would be an overpowering taste to a meal already full of flavors. Iida always liked his food salty. Still, Iida had a point, she figures. Maybe she should pack something different every now and then. She likes what she likes! Sue her. She knew the texture of her food was safe. Still staring down at Iida's food, Tsuyu shook her head. "No thanks. I'll just pack something else tomorrow." She said. Iida accepted this, and nodded at her. Tsuyu went back to eating her food and listening to her table's conversation.
"-And then Bakugo had the fucking nerve to say that All Might got that move from Mount Lady, which, don't get me wrong- the moves are similar, but he knows that its the other way around! Mount Lady is an amazing pro, but she's newer to the hero industry in comparison to All Might. Its entirely possible that Mount Lady got that move from All might- I mean heroes take inspiration from other heroes all the time, but come on! He was totally saying that just to annoy me." Midoriya said.
Uraraka hummed. "And it worked, didn't it, though? You're annoyed." She said, smirking. Midoriya dropped his head with a sigh and nodded in admission.
"My father stole one of his moves- Jet Kindling- from a less famous pro-hero with a fire quirk. His quirk wasn't as powerful as my father's, so the two moves look different, and have a different result in battle." Todoroki said.
Iida's face was a mix of shocked, and offended. "All of the fighting moves in my family are entirely original! We would never disrespect another hero by stealing their moves!" He protested.
"you might be the only ones, then." Uraraka said.
"I don't see how being inspired by someone is disrespectful, isn't that flattering?" Tsuyu said. Midoriya tilted his head and scrunched his nose up, tilting his hand side to side.
"It can be? I mean, its one thing to be inspired- if heroes weren't allowed to be inspired by one another, we wouldn't have Stars and Stripes as a pro-hero! She was inspired by All Might to become a hero in the first place. There's a difference between that, and copying, which happens just as often." Midoriya explained.
"Midoriya, has your dad stolen any moves from anyone?" Shoto asked.
"Todoroki, how many times am I going to have to tell you that All might is not my dad! My dad left! I'm fatherless! Also- to answer your question, All Might had people to train him, so probably? But he is not my dad!" Midoriya said.
Todoroki eyed him suspiciously, slurping his soba loudly for emphasis. Tsuyu cringed at the sound of him slurping his food.
By the time they had all finished their food, Lunch was over. The group all walked back to class together, continuing their conversation until they made it to their seats. Tsuyu kept her headphones on her head, she knew she would need them for her next teacher.
"GOOD AFTERNOON MY LITTLE LISTENERS! ITS MONDAY!" Present mic burst into the classroom. He made his way to the podium and grinned at the rest of the class. "Who's ready for some ENGLISH SPEAKING?!" He said.
"Good afternoon, present Mic!" Iida greeted. Tsuyu bounced her leg at a steady, slow rhythm under her desk, looking around the classroom. She tuned out the majority of her teacher's loudness with her headphones the best she could, following along with his lecture.
After Present Mic gave Iida worksheet to hand out to the class, some of the students had broken off into groups to work on it together. Uraraka and Tsuyu split off into a group of their own.
Mina, Denki, and Kirishima were also in a group. At some point, Denki started including Present Mic into their group.
"So, like, you've probably had to go to a lot of different places in the world as a pro hero, right? Especially since you can speak more than one language." Denki said.
"I have! I've been to some places in Europe, America, even Canada, once. Australia, too." Present Mic said. Kirishima's eyes lit up at the mention of Canada. He silently mouthed 'woah.'
"Oh, cool! Have you found any weird bugs out there? Or is it the same bugs as it is here in Japan." Denki asked.
Mina looked up at Denki and burst out laughing. "Bugs?! Not like, 'what pro heroes have you met?' You wanna know about the wild life?" She teased.
Denki Shrugged and put his arms in surrender. "Hey, man! I just wanted to know!"
"Well, Australia has some HUGE bugs." Present Mic said, placing a hand to his chin in thought.
At this, Tsuyu perked her head up, and raised her hand. Uraraka was also listening to the other group's conversation at this point. Present Mic's attention fell on Asui. "Oh! Yes, listener?" He said.
"Australia actually has some of the largest moths in the world- like the Giant Wood Moth, and the Hercules moth, ribbit." Tsuyu Stated. Denki turned to Tsuyu and listened enthusiastically.
"Dude, that's so cool! I'd kind of be scared if I saw a giant bug though. Like, what if its deadly?" Denki Said.
Tsuyu shook her head. "You don't need to worry about those moths, moths don't really have the ability to hurt people- generally speaking. I'd be more weary of the spiders in Australia, or the scorpion." She said. Denki's mouth was open in a small "o" while he listened.
From the corner of the class, Mineta chimed in. "Why do you know so much about bugs? Bugs are gross." He said, scrunching up his nose.
Tsuyu snapped her head to him and pressed her mouth into a fine line. Mineta was looking at Tsu like she, too, was gross. Irritation bubbled in her stomach, but overall, she was deeply embarrassed. She just wanted to contribute to the conversation and answer Denki's question! She let out a quiet, insecure 'ribbit.'
Uraraka frowned at Mineta. "I think bugs are kind of cute, Mineta. Like, butterflies are so pretty! And some moths are actually beautiful, too. Tsu's really smart, and tells me all about them." She said, flashing Tsuyu a smile. Asui looked up to meet her smile, and the embarrassment washed off her face. She nodded at Uraraka.
The two had been friends since they were just kids, and whenever Asui had learned a new insect fact, Uraraka was the first person she'd tell. She would listen to everything Tsuyu had to say, even asking her questions about insects that prompted more info dumping, or more research. Every now and then, the two would spend nights researching bugs together- trying to find the weirdest bug, or the most deadly, the smallest, and so on.
"I think beetles are a really manly insect! the stag beetle is my favorite." Kirishima said, showing Denki a photo of a stag beetle on his phone.
At the sight of the beetle, Denki took Kirishima's phone and put his face close to the screen, staring intently at the beetle. "Dude! That is a BIG ass beetle! Look at it next to someones hand!"
"language, Kaminari! Also- WOW! I didn't know this class had such an interest in bugs! You all should have gone to school for insects, not hero work!" Present Mic said, laughing at his own joke when nobody else did. Tsuyu returned to her work with Uraraka, a small smile on her face. It was nice to know her class had her back.
----
Class ended shortly after that, and it was time for gym class with Aizawa and All Might. At this point in the semester, the students were left to train on what they thought they needed improvement on. They were expected to not need a lot of help at this point. The most the teachers would do is supervise, offering points of critique at the end. Tsuyu noted that All Might would always spend a lot of focus on Midoriya out of all the Class 1-A students. She assumed it was due to how similar their quirks were. Shoto always theorized they were father and son, but in Tsuyu's opinion, they look absolutely nothing alike.
Tsuyu was working on muscle strength in her legs and arms by herself, using the workout equipment in the gym. Iida was on the treadmill, working on strengthening the duration of his 'Recipro Burst.' She paid him no mind, listening to an insect podcast with her headphones on as she worked out.
In her opinion, the gym uniform didn't feel as bad as the regular school uniform. It was made with a breathable, light material. And she had ordered hers in a size larger than her actual size so that it fit her loosely. Honestly, she enjoyed gym periods like this. Tsuyu loved her classmates, and enjoyed their silliness, but she needed gym periods where she could just be left to herself to process the day and have some down time.
Gym was over before she knew it, and Tsuyu headed straight for the showers- there was no universe where she would allow herself to let the sweat dry onto her skin and make her hair stick to her neck. That was a sensory hell, and she'd sooner take her chances tearing up the limited-edition posters in Midoriya's room.
Gym is her last class of the day, so Now that it's over, Asui wasted no time heading back to the dorms. Once in her dorm room, she dropped her bag on the floor and changed into loose, comfortable clothes- a navy blue hoodie with butterflies down the sleeves, and gray sweatpants. After that, Tsuyu collapsed onto her bed and napped.
After her nap, she met her classmates downstairs for dinner, her headphones secured around her neck. Kirishima cooked dinner for the class today, steak with rice and vegetables. He also offered to serve everyone their food. "Yo, Tsu! I know you don't really like the texture of steak, so I didn't put any on your plate. I gave you more of the other stuff to make up for it." He handed Tsuyu her plate.
Tsuyu smiled at Kirishima. "That's so thoughtful. Thanks, Kirishima." She said. Kirishima gave her a thumbs up, then served himself food.
"Tsu, I didn't know you knew so much about bugs! I mean, I figured you liked them, but wow, you know your stuff, girl! That's so cool!" Mina said.
Tsuyu blushed. "I've loved bugs since I was young, ribbit." She said.
"I don't know why Mineta had to be such a fucking hater! Like, who cares that you like bugs? He likes harassing the female student body, so his opinion doesn't matter." Denki said. Mina nodded in agreement.
Tsuyu hummed. "That's true." She said, eating the vegetable on her plate. Kirishima even made sure the rice and vegetables were separate, whereas for the other students, it was all mixed in. She was thoroughly heart-warmed by this gesture. To show her appreciation, she washed her and Kirishima's plate, much to his protest.
She stayed in the common rooms for a little bit after dinner, hanging out with Todoroki, Iida, Midoriya and Uraraka. They all played board games together. With her friends, and most of her classmates, Tsuyu couldn't even begin to emphasize how grateful she was that they treat her like a normal person. They accommodate her where she needs accommodations, but they don't see her as the "autistic girl." They see her as Tsuyu Asui, who loves bugs, and is kind to others. 'Tsu,' who is gonna be a kick-ass hero one day. Yes, she is autistic. That's a big part of her life, too, but it isn't all she is. They get that. They treat her normally because she is a normal person, just as they are. Her Neurodiversity doesn't change that. Its unfortunate that its such a rare occurrence for her to get the bare minimum of acceptance, between being mocked for her frog-like appearance, and her neurodivergent behaviors, She's not used to it. But since joining UA, her classmates have shown her the treatment she deserves, and that has been monumental.