Chapter Text
Aoyama sits in a back room during the sports festival, holding some ice to his chin after being uppercut by Mina Ashido, he’s watching the tv in a bit of awe as his two classmates battle intently, Midoriya keeps speaking to Todoroki but what is he saying? He’s trying to tell his friend something as he hurts himself, fingers red and black, if he messes up this thumb attack won't he blow his cheek out?
Midoriya really is something, the true spectacle of this event.
Yuga Aoyama is heading back to rejoin his class after the match ended on TV, seeing Midoriya’s friends in the hall leaving the recovery room - ‘Maybe I should pay him a visit?’ He thinks to himself, walking over towards Asui and Mineta who he has spoken to previously, while Uraraka and Ida head off to join the class
Mineta sees Aoyama coming over and gives a small wave “Hey man, rough match.”
Aoyama “Oui.. but I can’t let it get me down, I just hope everyone forgets it in favour of Midoriya’s match”
Tsuyu “Midoriya is still in there if you want to go see him, we were just about to head back ourselves”
Aoyama looks to the door, one of many small recovery rooms across the grounds for the sports festival “I’ll catch up” holding the ice pack down by his side, turning as his two classmates leave and knocking on the door with his index knuckle
“Y-You can come in!”
He opens the door and the sterilised scent of the room hits his nose, seeing Midoriya sitting up in a chair with his arms resting on his lap, fingers up and trying to keep them still - M”Aoyama? You came to check on me?”
Aoyama “Surprised?” he strolls over and takes a seat next to him, scooting the chair closer and looking at his fingers “Tsk. Why do you keep doing that to yourself? Whatever you were saying to that Todoroki boy couldn’t have been that important”
Midoriya “You saw me talking to him?”
Aoyama “Between you nearly blowing your cheek out, oui. It was a spectacle of a match, but gravely concerning for us”
Midoriya “Sorry.. I was just - trying to help him with something”
Aoyama thinking ‘Help him? With what? Just look at his fingers, they’re black and purple, how often is he going to do this?’
“Here, mon amie” hovering the ice pack over Midoriya’s hands “Rest it in your bad hand”
Midoriya “Hah. They’re both bad”
Aoyama “The worse hand - ready?” resting it down gently with care into one of his hands, Midoriya winces and lets out a pant but he moves his other hand to the top of the ice pack “Oh wow that’s helping..”
Midoriya watches as Aoyama crosses his arms and stretches his long legs out, a strange metallic smell coming from his gym uniform - probably the acid that hit his belt “Hey uhm, I actually had a question for you Aoyama”
Aoyama turns his head “Hm?” his styled blonde hair has some cement dust on it but his blue eyes are clean and beautiful - “I was wondering about your belt, usually heroes get support items to help or enhance their quirk but you had the belt when we started, and since civilians aren’t supposed to use their quirk.. I just wondered why you had it made”
Aoyama doesn’t say anything, just looking at Midoriya’s face for a moment before looking away, Midoriya notices his hand is holding over his stomach “Nh- Sorry! I shouldn’t have asked..”
Aoyama stands up and gives his hair a little brush, heading towards the door and leaving the conversation, clearly touched by the question “I’ll see you back with the rest of class” looking back with a small reassuring smile before he leaves
Midoriya continues to sit, holding the ice pack with both hands to numb his fingers and ease the swelling ‘At least he smiled at me’ he thinks, still curious to the belt but it’s clear Aoyama didn’t like the question
When Class 1-A returns to school in the following days everyone is alight in discussion, talking about things they could have done better, accomplishments, the other class. Denki”That vine chick had such a natural deterrent to my quirk, how was I supposed to win-” Jirou”You immediately used the attack that disables you, you didn’t even try.”
Sero”C’mon Bakugou I know what they said but you could have gone a bit easier on her, what’s the worst she’d have done to you?” Bakugou is still angry about Shoto Todoroki, you’d think some steam is coming off his head, turning his head with teeth clenched and staring down Sero “She almost got me. Now MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS!!” palms popping a bit
Kirishima sliding in to distract Bakugou “Heyy Bakugou, what did you think about my match against-” B”They gave you a shitty opponent, you’re lucky you came out on top or you wouldn’t be speaking to me right now.” referring to the match against Tetsutetsu
Aoyama is a little late to class, as he’s making his way down the hall he hears someone call out “Heyyy! Yugie!” stopping and looking behind to see Mina Ashido doing a light jog to catch up “I wanted to talk to you” panting lightly as she stops by him
Aoyama “Is this about our match?”
Mina “Yeah.. I was overly excited, I’m sorry about dogging you like that man! Do you wanna be friends?”
Aoyama thinking ‘Friends? What if she’s a mean girl - It’s not like I’m friends with anyone else in class’
Aoyama “Sure thing, I wanted to move past that match anyways so what better way than this?”
Mina “Yes!!” pumping her arms “We could figure out interests, I can tell you like makeup and fashion but do you have any hobbies?”
Aoyama “I like to figure skate-”
Mina “OH yeah? I love dancing, there’s some common ground there” following him into class and finding their seats near each other, it’s louder in here but Mina has a tendency to raise her voice when she’s excited
Aoyama thinking again ‘Are friends this easy? Maybe I should talk to the others’
Midoriya comes into the classroom with Todoroki behind him, Aoyama looks past everyone to see his fingers are wrapped up but clearly usable as he’s holding his bag strap, he feels better seeing that he’s better
Mina”DEKUU!! You were so awesome!! You broke out of that mind control, and then your battle with Todoroki!?! I wouldn’t be surprised if you get all the requests!!”
Midoriya nervously chuckles and brushes his hair back, Mina and the others talking him up big time and congratulating him, despite his feats he didn’t even reach third place in the end.
Everyone’s fun comes to an end when Aizawa comes in, the class appearing to have been in their seats this entire time but he knows better
Aizawa informs the class what they will be doing today, coming up with their hero names, which sparks some chatter and excitement before he makes them quell. Aizawa “We are doing this now as some of you received nominations from pro heroes after the sports festival” He shows on the board a tally of all the nominations, Bakugou and Todoroki leading by thousands “The nominations are usually more balanced, not this year. If you didn’t receive a nomination you will still be getting work-place experience, this class is already further than others because of the incident at U.S.J but I think getting some more experience with pro heroes will do a lot of good”
“That’s right! And as Aizawa mentioned, what is something every pro hero needs?” Midnight stepping into the classroom and interrupting Aizawa to his minor dismay. Kirishima”A killer name of course!” M”But do you know what’s in a name? Your hero name will determine your image, what is the hero you want to be and how do you want people to see you?”
Midnight walks through the classroom to hand out some small whiteboards with markers, Aizawa is off to the side sleeping on the ground. M”I want you to think carefully, you have fifteen minutes to decide who you want to be” and everyone is off writing away, some already finished, others like Denki grumbling and tapping the desk
Aoyama decides on the name I can not stop twinkling, thinking it quite accurate and fitting, however he looks at Midoriya and thinks on it a bit more carefully. That name doesn’t explain who he is exactly, he wipes the name away with a tissue and writes something new with a smile, much better
During the fifteen minutes, anyone is allowed to come and show their name, Bakugou stands up and firmly heads to the front to show his name, setting the whiteboard down a bit hard and growling out the name, B”King Explosion Murder.”
…
Midnight “That’s too aggressive and violent, you’ll have to come up with something else” B”WHAT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN”
Kirishima “Why don’t you be Explosion Boy!” :D “SHUT THE HELL UP” the commotion making Ochako and some others laugh
Bakugou goes back to his seat ticked off, others start going up to take their turns showing off their hero names, Midoriya unable to decide on his and Ochako being shy.
Aoyama steps up and steps his way in front of everyone, no-one knowing what to expect as he looks at his class with a proud smile and flips his board up to display his name
Knight in Twinkling Armour
“I had something else planned but one of my classmates had me rethink it, and I thought a name like this would match perfectly with my outfit and who I want to be”
Midnight “Hmm, it’s good! But you should change it back to shining and shorten it to Shining Knight as it still gets the image across, or maybe you'd like Twinkling Armour? You can think of it later” some of the class thinks the name is a bit lame, but Midoriya actually likes it, he wants people to see him as a knight in shining armour coming to save the day, though who made him rethink it?
Ochako gets up and swiftly walks to the front as Aoyama is still walking back to his seat, instilling courage and displaying her dorky hero name “Uravity! Uraraka and Gravity!” Midnight approving “Cute and creative! The zero gravity hero”
Midoriya is one of the last to go, stepping up with his board and heading to the front to show his board with the odd name Deku, there wasn’t any other name that sat with him, this has to be his name. “Deku. I used to hate it, I was called it since I was young, but someone made me see it differently and now there isn’t any other name that feels right except for this one. I want to be a strong smiling hero like All-Might”
Some of the class is confused, others like Ochako and Ida approve, while Bakugou is annoyed by his acceptance of the name. Midnight approves and Midoriya heads back to his desk before Bakugou quickly heads back up with his board
Explosion Hero “EXPLOSIVE MURDER GOD”
Midnight “Bakugou that is the same as all the others… If you can’t think of a name now you’ll get a chance later” - “WHAT’S WRONG WITH IT THIS TIME!!”
Aizawa’s sleep bubble pops as he wakes up, standing out of his sleeping bag and taking over the class as they’ve picked their hero names, he returns the focus of the class to workplace training
“-Those who received nominations will have lists of those agencies to choose from, for those that didn’t you will be given a list of agencies you can apply to, you’ll all find a place to go to so don’t worry”
Mina “Aw man, what am I supposed to pick? Hey Aoyama! Do you wanna go to the same place?” Mina coming over to sit on his desk, “Moi?” - “Of course! On paper we’d make a pretty good team, in combat you can cover me with your lasers while I’m zooming in on my acid. And during rescue your laser can act as a beacon while I clear paths!”
“It sounds fun darling, I’m sure we’ll make a flashy pair” Aoyama turning with his paper to discuss the agencies with Mina, eventually they’ll land on a shogun hero to work, Toru Hagakure sneaks up on the conversation and wants to join their pairing as she can stealth around while they are dawning attention
Midoriya is called out of class as he got a last minute nomination by someone, All-Might wanting to talk to him about it personally. Ochako talks with the other girls on which agencies they’re going with, she is having some trouble deciding for herself so she goes over to ask Bakugou since Midoriya isn’t here
Bakugou has a nomination from top hero Best Jeanist, so of course he’s choosing that one, but he’s sure gonna be in for a surprise. Kirishima and Sero are hanging around trying to chat with him, Ochako finds a moment to ask him what he thinks she should be looking for in an agency. B”Why the hell are you asking me?” “I, don’t know.. You treated me like a real threat during the sports festival, so you must see an area I have to improve in” Kirishima “Maybe you should find a specialist hero that will teach you cool new techniques and to do more with your power!”
Bakugou “Go for a combat hero. You only tried to use your power when you got close to me.” Bakugou not looking at her but giving her the advice she wanted, Ochako nods “Thank you Bakugou!” going over the list again, Sero pointing out Gunhead’s agency, a pro hero that focuses on armed combat, exactly what Ochako needs to improve herself. Bakugou sees Ochako’s drive, most of the class saw that as an unfair matchup except for her, and it wasn’t even Deku’s plan, that was all her, but she won’t be a threat to him in the future
Kirishima “Hey Bakugou since Midoriya is using the name you call him, why don’t you use Kacchan-” “DON’T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT!” “A-Alright man, only Midoriya calls you that”
Aizawa runs the students through what to expect during their workplace experience with the agencies, most are giddy and excited, others are secretly nervous, he helps them plan how to get to the agencies daily before class ends, their papers being sent in to the agencies so they can be accepted or not
On the following Monday, Aizawa meets with his class at the station, having brought along their hero costumes, he came in case any fans of the sports festival spot them and become an annoyance. Seeing them off before he tries to return to U.A. but he has to find a place to nap on the way
Aoyama, Mina, and Toru head off towards a platform together with another group, Mina being an excited chatterbox and hoping to do awesome things with her friends and how they get to hang out on the train each morning, Aoyama looks across and notices Midoriya and Ochako talking to a glum Tenya Ida, he smiles as he just sees Midoriya being a good friend again, and he wants to try befriending him