Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"You cannot be a hero" the words rang in his mind, as he walked home. Izuku had heard those words so many times, from teachers, other students, even kacchan, but it hurt so much more when the person telling him was All Might, the #1 hero, the symbol of peace, and his idol. He had hoped- no, believed, that All Might would be different. But deep down, a part of him had always known he was wrong.

Izuku bit his lip and furrowed his brow. "No," he thought, "there has to be another way." He thought back to his notebooks, his analysis on his favorite heroes. He thought about how Sir Nighteye, All Might’s old sidekick, fought mostly quirkless, and to Nedzu, who always used his intelligence to take control of mechanisms and built traps for villains. His thoughts drifted to Aquafin, a hero employed by the Endeavor agency for his water quirk, allowing him to dispatch any fires caused by Endeavor’s villain fights. He thought about how, despite his numerous boasts about how he was “enhancement free”, the hero was almost ninety percent support gear.

Izuku stopped walking.

"What if I did that?" He thought, "What if I fought using support gear?" It'd be easy to swap out pieces to suit the moment, and it wouldn't be hard to do. Powerloader was a support engineer and a pro hero at the same time. He could totally do something like tha-

He ran into something, knocking both him and whatever he ran into over.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going, I’m so sorry, please forgive me-”

“Don’t sweet it! I heard you mumbling, pretty heavy stuff. You gonna go to the support course at UA?” Izuku snapped out of his apologies, looking at the source of the voice. He saw a girl, about his age, with pink dreadlocks and steampunk looking goggles, wearing black steel-toed boots, a gray oil stained tank top and baggy gray cargo pants, also oil stained, and with a jacket wrapped around her waist. Most notably though, was the oil and soot marks that covered her face and arms. Her eyes, which had crosshairs in the middle, were locked on his own.

His eyes widened. “O-oh, you heard all that? I’m sorry, I’ll shut up. It probably sounded really creepy-”

“Nonsense! My name’s Mei Hatsume, future CEO of Hatsume Industries. I’m going to be the greatest support engineer to ever live!” The girl, now known as Hatsume, popped up and struck a pose, laughing maniacally. “AHAHAH! So, about my question Greenie, you going to support?”

Izuku blinked, put off by the strange girl’s energy. “W-well, I don’t really… I don’t know. I wanna be a hero, but I also want to be a support engineer. Well, I guess I only wanted to a few minutes ago, but still. But if I go for a dual enrollment, I won’t get the chance to learn enough from both courses, because I’ll be stacking hero course work on top of support course work. I could go for support and then transfer in through the sports festival, but that isn’t a reliable or guaranteed option. Oh!” He quickly whipped out a notebook, quickly scribbling in it. “What if I make something? Yeah, I could make a robot or something to go to support classes for me, and then that frees up my time to take hero course classes while learning from what the robot records for me. And I can make the robot my support course submission, and that’d ensure me a spot, and-” he cut himself off, looking at the girl, Hatsume, who was staring at him intently. “O-oh, s-sorry about that, I know it’s creepy, I’ll stop.”

“Stop? Why would you stop?” Hatsume asked, excited, “It’s so fun watching a fellow support engineer think. What are you going to give your robot baby? Flamethrowers? Cannons? Lasers? Missiles?!” The girl got increasingly more excited with each proposal, and she started to jitter in place.

Izuku took a step back. “Well, I don’t know what I’m going to do just yet. I still need materials-”

Hatsume bolted up in his face. “I know where to get parts! Down at Takoba Beach, it’s a gold mine of old machine parts. I’m 1000% sure you can find whatever you need there! Come on, let’s go!” Hatsume ran off, not waiting for an answer.

Izuku shifted his weight from one foot to the other, indecisive. On one hand, he could get parts, and someone who could teach him. On the other, this could be an elaborate prank that would end him up covered in trash. He weighed his options, before gritting his teeth and giving up, deciding to bolt after her. “Hatsume-kun, wait up!”

___

When Izuku jogged up to the beach, he saw Hatsume, sifting through small piles of trash. When she caught sight of him, her eyes lit up. “Greenie-kun! You actually came! I thought you just ditched me like all my other classmates,” her manic smile didn’t waver for a second as she piled junk together on a tarp. “Here, this is for you!” she patted the tarp, a worn out forest green, “I tried to color coordinate, it’s always fun to do with new people.”

Izuku sifted through the piles of trash on the tarp, finding servos, motors, wires, and a bunch of discarded electronics. He choked up, tears welling in his eyes. “W-wow, Hatsume-kun, this is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

“The nicest thing someone’s done for you is sort trash for you? Wow, you need better friends,” Hatsume stated matter-of-factly.

“I don’t really have too many friends, on account of me being, um, quirkless,” Izuku facepalmed, too afraid to look at Hatsume. "Great, first friend and they already hate me now," he thought, "Could this day get any worse."

Hatsume didn't move, blinking a few times. “Quirkless? Oh! That’s why you wanna become a support hero, right? To use support equipment to help you get stronger? Well I can help you with that!” She pulled a jar out of her pockets and uncorked it, releasing a small swarm of metal bugs. "Locusts," he noted, as they began jumping around, chewing through metal and dragging small pieces of metal.

“What are they doing? What even are they?” Izuku whipped around, watching the small metallic locusts work.

“They’re my lab partners,” Hatsume announced proudly, “They help me get metal and they can build some complex shapes by joining together. Watch.” She pulled down her goggles, and began directing the locusts around, as they coalesced into a single mound, creating a sphere, a cube, and a 1:1 replica of Hatsume’s body.

Izuku looked at the locusts, surprised. “Wow, that’s so cool! How do they work? Do they each have an operating system, or is it a hivemind? If so, is there a controller, or is it all just one task programmed into them?” He soon devolved into a mutter storm, as Hatsume looked more and more excited to answer his questions.

“I made them using another one of my babies, which helps me to build smaller things, like these locust babies,” She gestured to the locusts, “And they all work on a hivemind. I’m their controller, with these,” she pointed to her goggles, “and these babies.” She showed off her gloved hands, with the gloves having a keypad on each palm and circuitry boxes on the back.

Izuku studied the gloves and goggles, writing every note in his notebook. “Wow Hatsume-kun, that’s so cool! The mini builder machine would be so useful, and your controllers are an ingenious idea!”

He frowned, thinking of his own support item. “But how am I supposed to come up with my own support item? I need armor that needs to be easy and quick to equip in the event of an emergency, as well as being strong enough to suffer hits from heavy hitters. But there’s nothing I can create that can fit that criteria in such little time, that type of tech takes years to make, not ten months.” Idly, he began to scribble in his notebook, writing down his ideas. “I also need it to be able to switch it out at a moment’s notice in order to suit the situation. Oh! What if I made it my hero costume too? Then I could wear the armor as undersuit, and then swap to a different outer armor. But I still run into the problem of how I’ll get the armor on. A mobile armory? No, then villains could also reach it. Maybe I could equip it via a drone? Yeah, a drone could carry the armor to me and I could put it on that way. But what do I even make my hero costume look like? Animals? Yeah, animals are all approachable, and they could reach out to larger audiences. But what do I make the armor look like?”

Hatsume interrupted him, grinning from ear to ear. “Well, it looks like you have a pretty good plan already. I’m about 1000% certain this plan could work.” She pointed down at his notebook.

Izuku looked at his notebook, seeing it filled with scribbles and diagrams of a theoretical armor for him. He paused, looking at the diagram for his armor, which featured two horns that pointed up in a “V” shape, mimicking All Might’s hair.

“Those kinda look like antennae,” Hatsume noted, pointing at the head, “Y’know, like… uhh… oh! Like a grasshopper!” She pointed her fingers above her head, mimicking antennae.

Izuku looked back at the diagram, noticing the similarities. He smiled, tracing the page with his thumb. “Yeah,” he started, his eyes slightly watering, “I guess they kinda do.”

“So… what are you gonna call it?”

“Huh?” Izuku looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Hatsume threw her hands up dramatically, “Your baby! The project, what’s its name?”

Izuku brought his pencil to his cheek, thinking for a moment. All Might and Kacchan’s words ran through his mind, before he came to a solution, his eyes twinkling as a smile played on his lips.

“I think… I think I’ll call it… Project RealxEyez”

Chapter Text

It only took a month, and the progress on Izuku’s robot support stand-in, or Project Humagear, was going well. He already had a basic frame set up, and Hatsume (“Call me Mei”) had started to teach him basic coding. While they worked on Project Humagear, Izuku worked on project RealxEyez on the side, already having a jumpsuit that assisted his strength and durability. The attachable armor, however, was a different story.

“A little to the left, no left, LEFT!-” *CRASH*

“Wanna start again?” Mei poked her head out from behind a makeshift blast shield, one that Izuku was forced to build after too many mishaps with Mei’s inventions, and her seemingly lack of self-protection.

Izuku picked the smoking drone up, brushing it off. “No, I don’t think the drone works anymore.” The drone sparked, forcing him to drop it. “Scratch that, it's definitely not working.”

He collapsed on the ground, groaning. The drone, the source of his woes, had taken them weeks to build, and was wrecked in less than a minute. He pulled out his new notebook, scratching out the drone suggestion. He sat there thinking, fiddling with one of Mei’s locusts.

“This isn’t working, nothing is coming to me. I think I’ll go home, and then I’ll come back when I’m alright.” Izuku got up, looking over at Mei. He sighed, watching her continue to build her support course submission.

He grabbed her arm, picking her up and pulling her away from the trash heap. “C’mon Mei, the trash will still be here when we get back. It’s getting dark, you have to go back home.”

Mei thrashed in his arms, clawing towards the half-finished invention. “Noooo, I still have so many ideas, there’s still so much I have to add. Can I just stay a little longer Greenie, pleeeaaasssee?”

Now, a month ago, Izuku would have folded instantly and let Mei stay, allowing her to tire herself out and fall asleep amongst the trash. But now, after spending almost all of his free time building things and dodging explosions with her, Izuku knew how to correctly deal with her.

He stared her down, looking pointedly into Mei’s eyes, before sighing. “S-sure, fine.”

In theory, anyway. Just because he knew the right way to act didn’t mean he could actually put that personality into action.

“Just, please remember to get home at a reasonable time, Mei, please,” Izuku let her go, walking off.

“Okay, bye Greenie!” Mei waved him goodbye, going back to building absolutely volatile machinery with zero supervision. “Don’t get mugged on your way home!”

“No promises!” Izuku called over his shoulder.

__

He got mugged.

He honestly should have expected it. He was walking to his house, taking a few back alleys, and he ran into a mugger robbing some businessman. Unfortunately for the mugger, the businessman didn’t have anything. Fortunately for the guy, Izuku was there to help. Unfortunately for Izuku, he severely overestimated the capabilities of the RealxEyez undersuit.

“Yeah, how’s that taste, kid?” The mugger cackled, kicking Izuku in the gut over and over again. “What, did you think you could go and play hero? Fuckin’ dumbass. You cost me a score, and you don’t even have anything worth stealing. Fucken piece of shit.”

The mugger walked off, bored. Once he was gone, Izuku sat up, groaning in pain slightly. The RealxEyez undersuit had protected him, leaving Izuku with only a few light hits that would most likely heal by the morning.

“Excuse me, young man, are you okay?” The businessman walked up to him, helping Izuku up.

Now that he could see him more clearly, Izuku could see the man had a gray jacket on, along with a pinkish undershirt. He also had gray pants on, as well as black slacks. A similarly pink camera hung around his neck.

Izuku staggered, bracing himself against the man’s arm. “Y-yeah, I’m alright. Are you okay, sir?”

The man brushed his shoulder, flashing a smile. “Don’t worry about me, kid. I could have handled that.”

Izuku returned the man’s smile, before looking a little upset. The man seemed to take notice, and rested a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong, kid?”

Izuku looked up, “It’s just… I couldn’t help you out. I got beat up by some mugger, how am I supposed to make it as a hero?”

The man looked pensive, “A hero, eh…?” He sat down on the curb, and Izuku joined him.

“Yeah, that’s why I made this undersuit. It’s a little bulky and hard to put on, but it works, and I plan to make armor that goes over the suit, like this.” He pulled out his notebook, flipping to the page with his armor design. “See? It’s detachable, so I can swap it out quickly, but I’ve been having trouble with the actual equipment process.”

The man’s eyes widened, almost as if he recognized something “Well, I believe it would do you better if you- here, may I?” The man reached for the notebook, to which Izuku obliged after a moment of hesitation. “See, you could make the undersuit form around you, if you build a housing chamber for it; somewhere accessible, but also well protected, like on the waist, or something.” He flipped to an empty page, sketching a quick silhouette of a man, and drawing a belt on it.

Izuku stared at the drawing, intrigued. “Right, but that still doesn’t fix the over-armor problem. I’d still have to find a way to get the armor on and off quickly and, hopefully, remotely.”

The man points at him, a twinkle in his eye. “Ah, but see, that’s where these come in,” He started drawing on the other page, drawing something that looked like an old naval mine; a little orb with points coming off of it. “Nanites,” he said, “They’re also known as “substitute molecules,” but what they boil down to, is that they are tiny robots that, with a main control nanite, can do almost anything you command them to. If you use these, you could make an entire armor out of them by having them solidify into a shape you want.” The man drew a little box under the nanite. “Then, you could make a sort of… data core, or something, that holds the code for the armor and its abilities, and you could use that in tandem with the belt to form the armor around you.” The man stood up and handed the notebook back to Izuku, who’s eyes were wide as he took the notebook back.

He looked up at the man, a watery smile gracing his lips. “T-thank you sir. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

The man simply chuckled, simply pulling up his camera and taking a picture of Izuku. Once the film emerged, his expression soured. “Tt, another dud.” He tossed the picture, but Izuku quickly scrambled to grab it, seeing it was a picture of him, but the image was all distorted, splitting up into the red, green, and blue overlay of the picture, making it look glitchy and warped.

“Woah…” Izuku muttered, “Is this because of his quirk? No camera or cameraman could be this bad without editing, right?” He heard shoes scuffing against the ground, and he turned to see the man walking away.

“Wait!” Izuku called, waving to him, “I never got your name!”

The man turns slightly, and he smirks. “I’m just a Kamen Rider, passing through.” The man gives him a curt two-finger salute. “Best remember that.” And with that, the man continues walking, turning a corner into another alley, but when Izuku follows, he’s nowhere to be seen, and the alley is a dead end.

“Kamen Rider, huh?” Izuku thumbs the belt on the man’s drawing, recalling his words. ”Best remember that”. “I will sir. Thanks.”

His phone goes off with a call from his mother.

“OH CRAP, MOM!” He sprints off in the direction of his home, answering the call. “Yes, mom, I know how late it is, I just lost track of time. I’m sorry, I’ll be home in a minute.” He runs home, too focused to pay attention to the explosion that goes off somewhere else, as a man in magenta armor destroys a monster.

“Remember that name, Izuku Midoriya. For you will be…

Kamen Rider Zero One-”

“IWAE! The creation of-” *WHAM*

“... fuck, not again. Ugh, Sougo’s not gonna be happy with me.”

Chapter Text

The nerd was up to something. It was a simple fact. Deku was never not doing something stupid; muttering about those stupid extra’s stupid quirks, writing in his stupid notebooks, thinking his quirkless ass could be a hero. No matter what, Deku being Deku was an inevitable fact. Another inevitable fact was that Katsuki would put him in his place. Every. Single. Damn. Time.

But Deku changed after the Sludge Villain incident. None of the other extras noticed, not like anyone would pay attention to that quirkless freak, but Katsuki knew where to look. The nerd actually shut up during class, and he was always writing in his new stupid fucking notebook titled ”Project: REALxEYEZ”.

Today, Deku was especially, annoyingly, stupid. All during class, he wouldn't fucking sit. Still. He was jittering in his seat, like was excited for the beatdown Katsuki was going to give him after class. He kept drawing some stupid anatomy in his notebook, going on about a name or whatever, and he wouldn't stop drawing and erasing and drawing and erasing and redrawing and re-erasing his stupid drawing of some RANDOM FUCKING GIRL.

Soon, class, and subsequently school, ended, and as all the other Extras filed out, Katsuki stalked up to Deku’s desk. “Oi, Deku,” He slammed his palm down on the desk, explosions popping in his other hand. Deku jolted, seeming to scan the area immediately, like he was looking out for someone. He blinked, shaking his head, and stared up at Katsuki.

“Wha- oh, h-hey, Kacchan. W-what do you nee-”

“Cut the bullshit, Deku,” Katsuki sneered, curling his fingers, his knuckles turning white, “What the fuck are you writing in there, you goddamn nerd?”

He swiped the notebook from Deku’s hands, flipping through the pages, finding nothing but diagrams of weird animals, a suit, and a bunch of lines and dots. “What the fuck- what is the shit Deku? Did you finally snap? What’s with this gibberish?”

Deku trembled, “I-it’s a binary cipher I-I made c-called “Franken-cipher” b-because it uses the chronological order of each of the letters in the alphabet in frankenstein's monster t-to make a alphabetical cipher in binary that swaps the 1's and 0's to-”

“I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THAT DEKU, I WANNA KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING IN YOU NOTEBOOK, SHITNERD?!” Katsuki threw the notebook back and slammed both of his hands on Deku’s desk, the desk smoking under his palms.

“O-oh, I- I’m just ma-making support equipment. Y-y’know, l-like your gauntlets and stuff. It’s n-not much, r-really, it’s j-just-”

“HAH?! NOT MUCH?! YOU’RE TRYING TO USE THIS SHIT TO GET INTO THE HERO COURSE, AREN’T YOU?!” Katsuki’s rage reached a boiling point, as his hand shot out to grab Deku’s shoulder. “WELL, LET ME REMIND YOU OF SOMETHING, DEKU,” He shoved Deku against the wall, letting out a deep growl as Deku’s uniform smoked under his touch, “I’M THE ONLY ONE FROM THIS SHITTY ASS SCHOOL WHO’S GONNA GET INTO UA, YOU GOT THAT, SHITTY FUCKING NERD?! YOU, NOR YOUR SHITTY FUCKING GEAR IS GONNA MAKE IT ANYWHERE, GOT IT?!”

Katsuki sneered at Deku, a sadistic grin etching itself into his features. “And just to make sure you understand…” He held up his sparking palm, his voice a sickly calm. “I’m gonna blow you up to hell and back just so you know,” He thrust his palm forward, ready to blast Deku’s face “NOT TO GET IN MY WAY, SHITTY DEKUUU!!!”

*WHAM*

“Augh, the back of my head.” Katsuki cried, slumping over.

“Uuh, K-Kacchan?” Izuku stepped forward, cautious.

Mei suddenly popped up from… somewhere, holding a suspiciously bent metal pipe. “Greenie-kun! Hey! Sorry, I just saw this angry sea urchin bullying you and I couldn’t let someone else make a bigger explosion than me, that’d be disgraceful to the entire support engineering community. Oh, and you’re my friend too, and that’s what friends are for!” she beamed at him, spreading her arms out.

Beneath her, Kacchan groaned, “call me a sea urchin again, bitch, see what happens.”

Mei kicked him in the side, “Quiet you.”

“ohhh, the front of my face.”

She kicked him again, “Shut up, or I’ll beat you with your own skull.”

“that doesn’t seem physically possible.”

Mei ignored him, turning to Izuku, “Well anyways, c’mon. It’s about time to make your baby!”

Now, due to spending a little over a month around Mei, Izuku has grown used to Mei’s… eccentricities, such as the way she refers to people's inventions. He’s gotten so used to it, that he barely recognizes them, or that it isn’t clear to others what she’s talking about.

Anyways, what I’m getting at here, is that Bakugo, who just had his skull caved in by a megalomaniac with a pipe, just heard that the same megalomaniac and Deku, were gonna go and have sex, not build support gear. This, combined with the aforementioned concussion, put Bakugo into a catatonic state, leaving Izuku and Mei to leave, running off to Takoba Beach to construct their masterpiece.

__

Izuku sat at his laptop, typing away at the code, fixing any mistake he could find, double and triple checking his work. Mei worked on the physical aspect, making sure the chassis was properly in place, and then ensuring that none of the wiring or circuitry was loose or at risk. This process needed complete concentration, and no explosions whatsoever.

“Alright! Your baby is all up and running, we’re 1000% ready to go!” Mei knocked on the chassis with a wrench, grinning wildly.

“And you made sure that there’s no risk of an explosion?” Izuku questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“C’mon Greenie-kun, since when have I,” she placed a hand on her chest, “been known to cause an explosion?”

Izuku deadpanned, looking up from his laptop. “You want the chronological or the alphabetical order?”

Her expression didn’t waver. “It’ll be fine, stop worrying so much. Now come on, fire her up!”

Izuku sighed. “Alright, but if she explodes, I’m throttling you.” He hit the “transfer” button on the computer; a big red button added by Mei that added a satisfying air to the process.

The code began to transfer, going into a small pearl blue-white box, one that Izuku picked up and brought to the head of their project, Project Humagear. He held the box against one of the ear conduits, which copied and transferred the data, activating the Humagear with a robotic [Take off toward your dream]. The hologram emitter flickered to life, and the silver metallic chassis was replaced with soft pale skin. The body gained business-esque clothes, and black hair flickered at the top of the head, long strands with green highlights framing her face, and short hair flowing down the rest of her head. She looked at the two stunned kids, scanning them.

“Creators recognized. Hello Izuku Midoriya, Mei Hatsume. Please assign a designation.”

Izuku stammered, too stunned to speak. “Uh, ah, uhm, uhm.”

Mei came to his rescue, speaking loudly. “YES, IT WORKS!” She gave a wild smile, looking between Izuku and the Humagear. “I think… your name’s gonna be, uh, hmm.” She thought for a moment, unable to come up with anything.

Izuku stepped forward. “Izu. Your name is Izu.” He gave the Humagear, now named Izu, a soft smile. “Welcome to the world, Izu.”

Chapter Text

A little over a month before the entrance exam, Izuku was finished with the REALxEYEZ belt, or the driver, as Izuku called it. It was a small thing, built to house the nanites he and Mei made for the undersuit. Izu had also given him a little bit of combat training, in order to build muscle so that he wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. Currently, he was working on one of the data cores, which he called a “Progrise Key”, in order to create the armor that would go over the under suit. His progress… wasn’t going well.

“Alright, the nanites are working the way they’re supposed to, but it’s taking too long for them to get the data.” Izuku groaned, slumping over his laptop. “How am I supposed to quickly swap armors if I can’t even get the main one to load in time? I’d be taken out by a villain before I even transform”

Mei sat on his left, lightly punching him in the arm. “Well, what if you created a defense mechanism?”

Izuku side-eyed, squinting through bleary eyes. “What?”

Izu crouched down on his other side, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Mei’s idea could potentially prove effective, Izuku. If you put an active defense system into the REALxEYEZ driver, it will provide ample time for the progrise key to load.”

Izuku sighed, sitting back and throwing his head back. “That’s a cool idea and all, but how am I supposed to do that?”

Mei scooted closer to him, “Maybe you could have it drop on your head, and turn into the armor!” Mei mimed throwing a large object down, grinning wildly. “Or a gunpla thing that squishes the armor on you,” She held her hands close together, smooshing them together. “Or you could use a sword, and beat up the villains when you transform,” she mimed swinging a sword around.

Izu blinked, her conduits producing a noise to convey confusion. “Mei, none of those propositions would prove either efficient or plausible. If the armor were to drop on Izuku’s head, how would he perceive potential threats? Or what if he were not in the right position, and the armor crushes him?” Izu stood up and folded her hands. “The same problem arises with the gunpla proposal, which also begs the question; where would the sprue tree come from? And the sword,” At this, she gave Mei a deadpan look, “How do you expect Izuku to learn how to properly use a sword for the entrance exam in only just a few hours, in such a way that he does not injure others, himself, or cause fatalities?”

Izu recollected herself, her face returning to a neutral expression. “I believe it would be beneficial to Izuku if he simply created a forcefield around himself.”

Mei groaned, throwing her hands up as she fell back onto the sand, “Ugh, you take the fun out of everything. I bet Greenie-kun agrees with me, right Gree- hey, where’d he go.”

Mei looked to where Izuku was standing, seeing him missing. She got up abruptly, her and Izu searching for him, finding him a little bit away, typing on his computer and sketching in his notebook, muttering all the while. He looked back at the two, giving them a wide grin.

“I’ve got it!” He announced, holding his notebook up to the two of them. On it, there was a diagram of a robotic grasshopper, along with a depiction of the hopper jumping around, with it disappearing to become pieces of the armor, chains connecting the pieces to a body.

“I’ll make the progrise key activate a droid that will protect me as the data loads, and then it’ll turn into my armor when the data loads.” He shook with excitement, moving to continue writing code on the computer, occasionally referencing his notebook. “And then I can have an auditory indication announcement when I activate the progrise key, and that’d let me and my allies know what key I’m using.”

He hit the upload button, allowing the code to transfer to the progrise key. He grins, bouncing his leg as he waits. The laptop screen flashes green, indicating that the transfer is completed. He grabs the progrise key, and stares at it, smiling.

__

In the last month before the entrance exam, Izuku spent it training with the transformation, tweaking how it worked, and refining the speed of the upload. He also encoded finishers into the key, extra bursts of power that the armor gets to increase his attack, at the price of him being unable to keep the armor up afterwards.

“Hey, Greenie-kun, you look kinda… awkward just standing there while you wait for the data to upload.”Mei’s voice pulled him out of his musing.

“Wh-what? What do you mean?” Izuku looked at her, shocked.

“It's just… a little weird looking for you to be standing there while a giant grasshopper jumps around you,” Mei lounged around, laying upside down off of a crate. She shot up excitedly, “Maybe you should do a pose or something!” To emphasize her words, she struck a pose (you know the one).

“It would be beneficial to you to pose while you transform, Izuku,” Izu informed him, nodding along, “A pose would significantly increase your chances of being recognized, as well as increasing your positive public appearance.”

“Ooh, ooh! And something to say! All you do when you transform is just go het-tchaa and that's boring.” Mei added, throwing her arms around.

Izuku pondered on the idea, thinking of a pose he could make while the data loaded. An alarm went off on his phone, interrupting his train of thought. He checked his phone, and saw that the UA entrance exam was starting soon.

“SHOOT!” He shouted, grabbing his bag, “WE’RE GONNA BE LATE!”

Mei blinks, checking her own watch. “Huh? Really? It couldn’t be tha- OH YEAH OK IT REALLY IS LATE! COME ON IZU, OUR SUPPORT DESTINY AWAITS!!!” She grabbed Izu by the wrist, dragging her away, much to the humagear’s protests.

“WAIT NO MEI YOU’VE GOTTA- change. Oh well, I guess she’s got this.” Izuku collected his computer, the REALxEYEZ driver, the progrise key, and his notebook, running off to catch a train, first to his home to quickly change, and have food.

__

“Hey mom!” Izuku exclaimed, opening the door to their apartment.

“Izuku it’s nearly time for the Entrance Exam, don’t you need to go?” His mother, Inko Midoriya, asked, holding out a small snack for him.

Izuku raced into his room, quickly pulling off his clothes. “Right, I know, I just need to grab some clean clothes, I’ll be out in a minute!” He called back, coming out of his room in a new change of clothes, his bag slung over his shoulder.

Inko looked at him with tears in her eyes, bolting forward to hug him tightly. Izuku smiled, hugging her back. They pulled away, smiling at each other, tears beginning to run down Inko’s face.

“Ohh, my little boy’s all grown up!” She gave him a kiss, patting him on the cheek. “Now go, you’re going to be late.”

Izuku nodded, running back out the door to hopefully catch a train to UA.

__

He stood in front of the massive gates to UA, smiling brightly. ”This is it!” he thought, ”This is where my journey to be a hero begins”. As he walked down the path, he caught sight of Kacchan, his broody demeanor standing out against the sea of excited students. Izuku faltered slightly, before shaking his head and continuing forward, determined to take the exam, and no one was gonna stop hi-

He tripped on his own feet, falling forward. He sighed inwardly, “Great, not even a minute and I’m already making a fool of myse- huh?” He stopped falling, suspended midair. He looked around as he floated, scrambling wildly.

“Sorry, I stopped you with my quirk, I hope that’s ok.” A girl’s voice rang out next to Izuku, and he turned to see a girl, with brown hair in a bob-cut, a round face, and two permanent pink blush marks on her cheeks. “It’s a bad omen to trip before an exam.” She smiled at him, righting his position so that he was standing upright, and placed her hands together. She said, “Release,” and suddenly, Izuku wasn’t weightless anymore.

He blushed, smiling at her. “T-thank you. My name’s I-Izuku Midoriya.” He managed to stammer, holding his hand out for her to shake.

She took his hand, holding her pinky out as she shook it. “No problem! My name’s Ochako Uraraka, are you here for the Hero Course entrance exam?”

He nodded, “Yeah, I am. Speaking of, we should probably get going, right?”

Uraraka smiled, nodding back. “Right. Well, see you inside, Midoriya!” She walked away, waving at him as she went.

Izuku bobbed on his feet for a minute, still smiling. He shook himself, a determined expression settling on his face. “Alright. I'm gonna make it, I'll be a hero.” He took an unsteady breath. “I will prove him wrong.”

Elsewhere, Small Might sneezed. ”Man,” he thought, ”That random quirkless kid I told a national secret to and left on a rooftop without checking on his mental or physical wellbeing, or at least doing a background check on to make sure he was trustworthy better not be talking about me”.

Chapter Text

Izuku entered the large auditorium, finding his way to his seat, which was directly next to Kacchan. Kacchan pointedly ignored him when he sat down, which Izuku found a little strange. The lights went out, and a spotlight pointed down at the front of the room, illuminating a single desk, which the Voice Hero, Present Mic, sat at.

“HEY HEY HEY LITTLE LISTENERS!!” He shouted in a show-voice, spreading his arms wide. “PRESENT MIC IN DA HOUSE, CAN I GET YEEEEAAAAAHHHHH?” He cupped a hand to his ear, and Izuku saw a chance to not disappoint one of his favorite heroes.

He stood up, raising his fist. “YEEEAAAAHH!” His shout echoed across the silent auditorium, as he realized that not only was he the only one who answered Present Mic, but now everyone was staring at him. Izuku blushed, covering his face with his hands as he sat back down.

Present Mic pointed in his direction, grinning wildly. “AW YEAH, THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! LISTENER 7111, YOU GET A COUPLE OF EXTRA POINTS ON THE PRACTICAL. SPEAKING OF, THERE’S GONNA BE A WRITTEN PORTION BEFORE THE PHYSICAL TEST, ‘CAUSE A HERO’S STRONGEST SKILL IS THEIR MIND, BUT NOT JUST HOW THEY USE IT, BUT HOW THEY CAN USE IT BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER INTENSE MOMENTS, YA DIG?” He struck a pose (something like an Elvis one this time), and gestured towards robots that were passing out the tests. “THESE ROBO-DUDES ARE GONNA SEND DOWN YOUR TESTS, AND YOU’RE GONNA GET AN HOUR TO GET THROUGH THEM!! WHEN YOU’RE DONE, JUST SIGNAL TO THE ROBOTS AND THEY’LL COME PICK IT UP, THEN JUST SIT TIGHT UNTIL THE TEST TIME IS OVER! NOW THEN, LET'S GET READY, SETTY, AND GOOOOO!!!!” He struck another pose (a Jojo’s pose) and then the lights came back on, and Present Mic laid back in his chair.

Izuku took his test from the robot, nodding a small thanks to it, and then he pulled out his pencil. He looked at the first question, a simple algebra question. He paused, before shaking himself off. It was probably a ruse, meant to lower the test takers’ guard before the test hit them with a really difficult question. He shrugged, opting to answer the question, and then moving on to the next one, another easy one about science. He blinked, finishing this one and moving on. The harder questions were probably going to be closer to the end.

So he kept on answering questions, one after the other, going down the page, getting increasingly more worried as the questions stayed at a similar level. He looked at Kacchan, and saw him struggling a little. ”Ah, so the hard questions are going to be at the far end, alright” Izuku thought, calming down. He went down the paper answering question after question, before turning over the sheet and finding two written questions. The first one read, “How would you comfort a distressed citizen, in the event of a disaster?” Izuku blinked, perplexed. This was one of the harder questions? He subtly scanned the room, trying to see if someone was pranking him, or if they swapped his test out by accident.

He shook his head, answering the question. ”I would approach them slowly, making sure to show as much of myself to them as possible to let them know I’m unarmed, and have no intention to hurt them. I would hold them tightly, letting them know that I’m there for them, and I wouldn’t be leaving them, that they are going to be safe with me.” Izuku smiled, moving on to the next question, which read “Why do you want to be a hero?” Once again, Izuku scanned the auditorium, convinced someone was messing with him. His gaze snapped back down to his paper, and he answered the question. ”Because no one was there for me, and I want to make sure that doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Izuku signaled he was done with his test, and he let the robot take his test. He buried his head in his arms, feeling miserable, like he was back in Aldera all over again.

__

“HEY HEY HEY LISTENERS! TESTS OVER, PENCILS DOOOWWWNNN!!” Present Mic's voice called out over the auditorium, signaling the end of the test.

Izuku jolted up, staring ahead.

“IT'S TIME FOR THE PRACTICAL NOW, CHECK IT!!” He directed everyone’s attention to the large screen behind him. On it, four different silhouettes were depicted. “ALRIGHT LISTENERS, ON THE SCREEN BEHIND ME ARE YOUR TARGETS!” The first box lit up, revealing a robot, followed by the second and third box. “YOUR TARGETS ARE GONNA BE ROBOTS, EACH WITH A DIFFERENT VALUE!! NOW COUNT THE POINTS 1, 2, AND 3!!!”

One of the kids in front of Izuku shot up, raising his hand. “Present Mic, sir!” He shouted. “On the handout, there are four robots, but you only announced three. This is a clear printing error that should be rectified immediately. Also,” He turned to Izuku, “you there, with the messy hair. You were the one to shout out, and you’ve been muttering throughout the entire exam. Stop that. If you cannot take the exam seriously, then you shouldn’t be here at all.”

“WELL HEY NOW LISTENER, YOU’RE OVER EXCITED! THE LITTLE LISTENER THERE WENT ALONG WITH MY SPECIAL REQUEST, AND HE HASN’T BEEN DISRUPTING ANYONE WHO COULDN'T DEAL WITH IT! IF YOU CAN’T HANDLE A LITTLE WHITE NOISE IN THE BACKGROUND, THEN HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO HANDLE A LOUD ROARING VILLAIN FIGHT? OR A BATTLEFIELD? AND TO ANSWER YOUR FIRST COMMENT, I WAS JUST GETTING TO THAT!!” Present Mic spoke loudly, redirecting attention to the screen, “YOU SEE, THE FOURTH ROBOT IS A ZERO POINTER, ONLY REALLY AN OBSTACLE FOR YOU TO AVOID, YA DIG?”

The boy sat back down. “Ah, I see. I apologize for causing a disruption.”

“IT’S ALL GOOD, LISTENER! NOW, Y’ALL WILL HAVE A CARD TELLING YOU WHERE YOU GOTTA GO, JUST FOLLOW THE SIGNS TO A TRANSPORT AND GET ON! IT’LL TAKE YOU TO YOUR TESTING GROUND, AS WELL AS A LOCKER ROOM TO CHANGE INTO YOUR TRACKSUITS! NOW, LETS GO GO GOOO!!! AND DON’T FORGET, PLUUUUUSSS…”

Everyone chose to join in this time, learning from the last time. ”UUULLLLLTTTRRRAAA!!!” They all cheered together.

Everyone in the room got up, heading out to their designated areas. Izuku checked his card, seeing a different area than Kacchan. “It must be so that we get separated from our friends and can’t work together.” Izuku muttered, pocketing his card.

“Shame.” Izuku turned to look at Kacchan, who was wearing a smug look of determination. “Means I won’t get the chance to beat your nerd ass into the ground, and watch you fail.” He sneered at Izuku, his hand popping with explosions. “How does it feel, Deku? To know you came this far, only to fail so badly?” He didn’t wait for a response, stalking off. Izuku stood there, feeling anxious. He shook his head, convicted. He walked away, going to the testing grounds.

__

He walked out of the locker room, wearing a green jumpsuit. He was allowed to bring the Zero-One Driver with him after checking with the proctor, the Pro Hero Ectoplasm, if it was alright. He stood amongst the other testers, equipping the belt. He produced the progrise key from his pocket, fidgeting with it.

A loud horn blared, and Present Mic shouted “GO!” over the speakers signaling the start of the exam.

Hearing that, Izuku grinned, clicking a button on the top of the progrise key, as it let out a loud robotic shout, ”JUMP”. Everyone turned to look at him, startled.

“... WELL C’MON! THERE’S NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL LIFE!”Everyone startled at that, running off to the large metal doors of the testing area. Izuku followed, reaching the entrance with them, holding his progrise key down to the Driver.

Chapter Text

Everyone reached the entrance gates, splitting up and finding robots. Izuku held the progrise key in his hand, weighing it, before holding it in front of the verification port on the driver.

”AUTHORIZE” the driver called, as a giant metallic grasshopper let out a screech as it formed and started jumping around, destroying a couple of robots in the process.

Izuku thought about Izu and Mei's words, that he needed a pose to be better liked. He nodded, his conviction set. He stood with his legs apart, holding his arms to the side, and slowly raising his arms above his head. He lowered his arms, holding them out in front of him. He flipped the progrise key open, hiding it to the side of his head.

Something- an idea, popped into his head, from somewhere he didn't know. A word, a phrase, bubbling just at the surface, waiting to be let out.

“Henshin!” Izuku cried, throwing the progrise key into the driver.

“PROGRISE!” the driver called out, as the undersuit formed around him, “JUMP UP AND RISE! the driver shouted again, and the grasshopper disappeared and formed Izuku’s armor. “RISING HOPPER!” [A jump to the sky, turns into a rider kick]

The armor glowed slightly, and Izuku’s form solidified. He flexed his fingers, admiring his armor. A robot, a 2 pointer, rapidly approached him. Izuku’s HUD informed him of it, and he whirled around, kicking it in the head. He let out a choked laugh, grinning beneath the helmet as the robot crumpled and shattered beneath his foot.

“Al- ALRIGHT! It works!” Izuku cheered, running off to find more robots, while muttering to himself. “Oh my god, that felt so cool! That- that pose! Where did it come from? Oh, I hope there's a video, I gotta know how to do that.” As he ran, he destroyed robots all the while, punching, clotheslining, and shouldering through the soft, fragile metal.

He blasted through another three pointer, stopping to catch his breath. Before he could, his HUD notified him of an incoming attack, and he dodged, ready to counterattack, when he caught sight of another test taker, who promptly tried to attack him.

“H-hey!” He squawked, “What are you doing?”

The kid, whose head was a hawk’s, his arms a cat's, and his legs a grasshopper's, squinted at him, “Oh, you're not a robot? But you're covered in metal.”

“Wh- I'm not a robot! I don't look anything like the pamphlet Present Mic gave us-” he cut himself off, rolling away from a playing card covered in an dragon-esque aura.

The new kid, his hands smoking, blinked. “Oh shit, sorry dude, I thought you were a robot.”

Izuku turned to look at him, “Why would you think that?! I look nothing like the robots we saw in the presentation!”

Two other kids stopped, almost attacking him. “Wait so…” one of the kids started, wind swirling around his body.

“You're saying you're not a robot?” The other kid finished, blackish purple energy covering his fists.

“No!” Izuku cried, hands on his head.

“Well, I didn’t think you were!” A fifth kid, his hair spiked straight up with a red highlight in it, told him. “Yes you did, don't attempt to hide it.” His hair fell, becoming a cooler style, the kid's highlight turning blue.

“Nuh uh.” He shook his head, his highlight red.

“Yuh huh!” He nodded enthusiastically, his highlight purple and his hair a mess.

“Just let me sleep.” He groaned, his hair slicked back and his highlight yellow.

Another boy patted Izuku on the shoulder, grimacing. “Don’t worry, you get used to it. Happens to me all the time.” He shrugged, tilting his head back and squeezing a jelly packet into his mouth as he sprouted robotic arms from his back, jumping into the fray.

Izuku took this as his cue to run away and find more robots, despite all the quirks he wanted to analyze.

__

He continued to gain points, destroying robots and helping to protect people from attacks, while still getting mistaken for a robot.

The ground began to rumble, and Izuku looked around, finding large treads moving across the ground. He followed the treads, looking up to see a support structure, a body, arms, and a head.

“The zero pointer…” he breathed out, in disbelief of the large robot that towered over them.

“Run!” Somebody yelled, he didn't know who, and everyone broke off into sprints, running away from the large robot.

Izuku went to follow, until he heard a quiet, “ow,” and he stopped, turning to look. He saw the nice girl from before, Uraraka, trapped under some rubble.

“H-help! Please!” She yelled weakly, desperately clawing at the concrete.

Izuku looked around, finding a kid with purple hair also staring towards Uraraka.

“Hey! You!” He called out to the kid. “Come on, we've gotta help her!”

The guy scoffed. “She'll be fine. It's only an exam, it's not like they'd let somebody die.”

Izuku balled his fists. “Listen, this is a hero school! If you only care about points, then so be it, but you'll never be a hero like that.” He turned to Uraraka, calling over his shoulder, “If you really want to be a hero, then you'd help someone no matter what. That's what heroes do, they fight for other's dreams, no matter the cost!”

He ran off, clamping a hand around the concrete slab. He began to lift, straining himself to do it. The concrete groaned, and it barely started to lift before it slipped from Izuku’s fingers. Before it could fall back on top of Uraraka, another pair of hands grabbed the slab, and Izuku looked over to see the boy next to him.

He grinned at Izuku. “Y'know, my grandma once said; “Even if the world were full of enemies, there is someone you must protect,” and,” he grunted shifting the weight, “ if that wasn't a hell of a slap on the face, I don't know what is.”

Izuku nodded. “Thanks. I didn't think that you would actually come to help me. I was just…” he grit his teeth, “angry, when you gave up.” He steadied himself. “I got this. Grab her, and get her out.”

The boy nodded, moving to pull Uraraka out. “Shinso, by the way.” He held out his hand, “Hitoshi Shinso.”

Izuku let the slab fall, shaking his hand. “Midoriya, Izuku Midoriya.”

“Great, we’re all friends,” the two looked down at Uraraka, her face green and her brow furrowed, “That's cool and all, but what about the GIANT ROBOT ABOUT TO CRUSH US!?”

Shinso looked up, squinting at the massive mechanical mass of metal above them. “Oh shit, yeah, I forgot.” He picked up Uraraka, looking over at Izuku, “Come on Midoriya. There's still time to get some points.”

Izuku looked back, his resolve set. “No! This thing might hurt other people. Don’t worry about me, I’ve got this. Just go!” He ran off, getting in front of the behemoth.

Shinso shrugged, carrying Uraraka away. She looked up at him, confused. “Aren’t you gonna help him?”

He raised an eyebrow, “My grandmother once said this: a battle is like a meal; to disrupt without permission is dishonest.”

Uraraka cocked an eyebrow, “Uh, what?”

He sighed, slumping over. “This is his fight.”

“Oh! Right.”

Izuku looked up, gazing at the robot towering above him. “HEY! DOWN HERE!” He glared at the zero pointer, pressing the progrise key into the driver, as the driver let out a robotic ”RISING IMPACT”.

The zero pointer took notice of him, and Izuku ran to the side, yellow lines following him as he ran. The power of the finisher increased his speed as he scaled a building, springboarding off of the wall to reach the head. One of the arms came up to bat him away, but Izuku simply kicked it away, bouncing off to get higher. Once he was eye-level with the machine, his suit let out a burst of energy from his back plate, propelling him forward. He positioned himself, driving a kick right into the face of the zero pointer. The force of the kick propelled him through the head, smashing apart the robot as he continued.

His driver let out another yell of ”RISING IMPACT” as he emerged from the other side of the head, wires, metal scraps, and coolant following him. The hole behind him sparked, and the lights on the robot dimmed as it fell backwards. The head exploded as the red detailing on the Zero One armor glowed. Izuku landed on the ground, sliding for a bit, before he landed wrong, resulting in him rolling into a pile of rubble.

Izuku yelped as he rolled, tumbling on the ground. He shoved concrete slabs off him, before pulling the progrise key out of his driver, the armor fading as the nanites reentered the driver’s core. He grinned, just as the buzzer that signalled the end of the test went off. He made his way back to Shinso and Uraraka, the latter leaning against Shinso.

“How do you guys think you did?” He panted, still smiling.

They both stared at him, their mouths agape.

“HOW’D YOU DO THAT!?” Uraraka yelled, eyes wide, shaking him. On the ground next to her, Shinso was crouched with his head held in his hands, muttering unconsolably.

Izuku freed himself from Uraraka’s grip, taking a step back. “Uh, it was ‘cause of this,” he held up the Zero One Driver. “It’s called the Zero One Driver, and it lets me transform, with the help of this,” he explained, holding out the Rising Hopper Progrise Key. “This is called a Progrise Key. When I put it in the driver, it loads data for my armor, and then the nanites inside form my under suit, while the data from the Progrise Key loads.” Izuku starts muttering, speaking faster, “I made a giant robotic avatar of the Progrise Key, which takes inspiration from animals, to surround me and protect me. This is Rising Hopper, and it’s the basis for all my forms, or my base form. I’ve optimized it for speed and agility, like a real grasshopper. I include finishers in all my progrise keys, and this one lets me…” He trailed off, looking at Uraraka and Shinso’s wide-eyed expressions. “O-oh, sorry, I know my muttering is a little creepy, I’ll stop-”

“You made that?” Shinso asked, cutting him off.

“That’s so cool!” Uraraka added on, pumping her fists.

Before Izuku could speak, a voice sounded behind him. “Alright, dearies, there will be time to socialize after the exam, but first I have to take a look at you.”

Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin, turning around to see a woman behind him. “Oh wow, it’s the Youthful Heroine: Recovery Girl! You’re incredible!” He pulled out his notebook, flipping to her page and showing it to her. “Can I get your autograph?”

Recovery Girl balked. “Well, I didn’t know I still had fans, much less younger ones. I do believe there will be time for me to sign your notebook later, but right now, I need to make sure none of you are injured. Speaking of…” She squinted at him. “That was quite a tumble young man. Are you alright?”

Izuku nodded, “Yeah, I’m just a little tired. My armor protected me.”

She looked him over one more time, before deciding he was alright. “Alright then.” She whirled around, pointing her cane at Uraraka and Shinso. “What about you? Any injuries?”

Uraraka raised her hand. “I sprained my ankle.” She tried to give a small smile.

“Bah, alright, let me see let me see,” Recovery Girl moved to her, kissing Uraraka's ankle. There was a green shimmer, and the bruising on Uraraka's ankle cleared away. She instantly started to look a little tired, and Recovery Girl left to check on other contestants.

The boy with blue hair pushed through the crowd, approaching Izuku. “Excuse me! You there,” he walked up to Izuku, chopping his hands, “While I have to commend you on finding the true nature of the exam, I will also have to berate you, as it is against the rules of the exam to bring support equipment into the exam unless it is an aid, or does not enhance your quirk. And, unless I am mistaken, it appears that your support equipment does indeed assist your quirk. If you cannot listen to simple rules, then perhaps you shouldn't even be a hero.” He bowed out to Uraraka and Shinso. “Forgive me, that is all I wished to say.”

Izuku stared at the blue haired kid, looking over at the other two. They also stood there, confused. The looks on their faces, along with the prior events, made Izuku burst out laughing, which only served to confuse Shinso and Uraraka more. Izuku continued to cackle as the other two tripped to figure out what was wrong.

Chapter Text

__Nezu POV

“So, what do we think about the batch of students this year?” A small mammal with white fur, Principal Nezu, sat at the head of a large table, his paws clasped together.

A tired looking man in a black jumpsuit and wearing a white scarf, a man by the name of Shota Aizawa, sighed. “Personally, I think most of the ones from my district don’t deserve to get in, almost all of them went after that one kid in the armor.”

Present Mic grinned, “Oh! That listener? He’s definitely my favorite this year!”

Aizawa glared at him with tired eyes. “That’s only because he was the only one to respond to your stupid chant.” He squeezed a jelly packet into his mouth, slumping over. “I will admit, he did display… admirable traits for a hero.”

A woman in a dominatrix outfit, the R-Rated Hero: Midnight, chuckled, “Aww, Shota, have you gone soft? I understand though, that young man showed some… youthful vigor.” She shuddered, grinning.

A short, shirtless man in mechanical armor covering his head and arms, the Support Hero: Power Loader, slumped over. “Midnight, please stop. I had to deal with a chaos child and someone’s support submission that went to the exam for them.” He slammed his head against the table. “I almost failed the kid ‘cause I thought they bought it, but nooooooo, the damn thing went and proved it was built by one guy. Izuku Midoriya, I think his name was.”

Present Mic perked up, “Wait, Midoriya? As in-”

“-the child who answered your call?” Nezu finished his sentence, grinning, “The very same. He took it upon himself to create his very own android, which he dubs a “Humagear”, in order to take Support Course classes while he takes Hero Course classes. Very ingenious, if I may say so.”

A tall lanky, almost skeletal blond man, the Number One Hero All Might, raised his hand. “Wait, but he’s obviously not going to get into both courses, right?”

“Oh on the contrary, not only is he in both, he will be performing as my personal student as well!” Nezu threw his hands up in mock celebration. “You see, he is allowed into both courses, not as a dual-enrolled student, but as a doubly-enrolled student, which is something I added in my #NiceVice Clause.” He brought up a manilla envelope labeled ”#NiceVIce Clause”, and drummed his paws on the table. “I had originally put the clause in as a joke, however it snuck past the HPSC’s submissions, so I decided to implement it seriously! It brings a tear to my eye to see it being used,” He wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.

All Might spoke up again. “But surely he should only be put in one or the other course, seeing as he is, ah,” he looked around, “quirkless.”

Aizawa coughed, sitting up. “As much as I would hate to agree with the oaf,” He jerked a thumb in All Might’s direction, “he has a point.” His gaze hardened, staring straight ahead, “Midoriya only relies on that armor accompanying him, and without any strength training he’d be a sitting duck in a villain fight, and a liability in the field.” He raised his hand. “I vote we place him in the support class. He might have the chance to transfer into the hero course from there.”

Nezu clasped his paws, smiling sweetly at Aizawa and All Might. “While that normally would work, unfortunately, my paws are tied. I am afraid that Yamada-kun’s bias points count as both an automatic pass into the Hero Course, and as a recommendation, something neither of you have the ability to sway.” Again, Nezu brought up two more manilla envelopes, one labeled “Nepotism Clause”, and the other labeled as “Narumi Clause”. “Similar to the #NiceVice Clause, I created this one,” He placed a paw on the Nepotism Clause folder, “as a joke, but it also got past the HPSC’s scrutiny. However,” He gestured to the Narumi Clause folder, “the HPSC specifically asked for this one, stating is was for “national peace”” He smiled, a soft and crestfallen one, “I named it after the man, a vigilante, who had helped me escape from my capture by a group known as Shocker. It is meant to be for a hero’s successor, and is a surefire way for them to gain direct access to the Hero Course, should the hero recommend them.”

Present Mic looked at Nezu, “Wait, so does that mean…”

“That Midoriya is your successor?” Nezu grinned. “Only in the eyes of the law.”

Mic flushed in relief, before Nezu spoke up again. “However,” he began, a sadistic twinkle in his eye, “if you do indeed intend to teach him yourself, you can always fight me for him.” He grinned, too wide, showing too many teeth. “But you’ll have to pry him from my cold, dead hands from my place on the boat of the damned.”

Mic balked, and Nezu’s grin widened, turning into a malicious, sadistic cackle, laughing as Present Mic screamed.

__Izuku/Outside POV

“Hey you ever get the feeling someone’s talking about you in a really messed up, twisted way while they commit manslaughter?” Izuku asked out of nowhere, distracting Uraraka and Shinso from their ice cream as he and Mei tinkered on one of Izu’s joints.

“Oh all the time, why do you ask?” Mei answered, not looking up from her tinkering.

“Because I feel like someone’s talking about me in a really messed up, twisted way while they commit manslaughter.” Izuku replied cooly. “Anyways, pass me the blowtorch?” Izu turned to Uraraka and Shinso, smiling apologetically as the space behind her lit up with fire, shadowing most of her other features.

“Apologies about Izuku and Mei, they have never had a sociotypical role model in their lives, and they have brought out the worst in each other as a result of meeting each other.” She nodded to the two’s ice cream cones. “Your ice cream has melted by approximately 7.3% in the time following your last bite, and it is beginning to drip.”

Uraraka reacted quickly, squeaking and licking around the base of the cone to prevent any of it from going to waste. Shinso followed suit, humming while he cleaned his cone up. “Y’know Midoriya, it’s cool that you were able to build a lot of this in, like, ten months before the entrance exam.” He grinned, looking at Mei, “You too. How’d you guys do all this and have time for strength training, battle training, and test running most of your other stuff?”

Mei gave him a manic grin as she soldered without looking. “Well, it’s because of this beach!” She spread her hands out, the soldering iron still red hot in her hands as she waved it around. “Everyone just tosses their trash here, and then me and Greenie-kun get to pick it up and use it.” She gestured to her left, where a motorcycle shaped suspiciously like a book bent in reverse sat. “I mean, who throws away a perfectly good motorcycle?”

Izuku perked up. “Motorcycle?”

“No.” Izu said pointedly.

“Wha- no to what? I wasn’t gonna say anything!” Izuku floundered.

“You were going to attempt to salvage the motorcycle for your own use.”

“... No I wasn’t.”

“Ah, my mistake, I suppose this page about you riding a motorcycle in the Project REALxEYEZ notebook was for someone else.”

“Wha- he called me a Kamen Rider, what do you expect me to think?”

“He most certainly did not call you a Kamen Rider, he called himself a Kamen Rider, and you decided to pay homage to him.”

“Well, I think you 1000% deserve to have a motorcycle baby, Greenie-kun. Just think of all the extra ‘splodey bits we could add!”

“Mei! You’re not helping!” Izuku turned to Uraraka and Shinso. “What about you two? What do you guys think about me having a motorcycle?”

Shinso shrugged, “I dunno, you could look cool. Good for mobility, too. I say go for it.”

Uraraka nodded along, throwing her fist up. “Yeah! I think you’d look pretty hot on a motorcycle.” She grinned, before freezing, realizing what she just said. Shinso slowly turned to look at her, his eyes wide.

Izuku blinked, as a beat passed. “You’re right!” He exclaimed.

“I am?” Uraraka squeaked.

“She is?” Shinso grinned cheekily.

“Of course!” He grinned at her, pulling out a notebook. “It’d probably get hot quickly, so I should implement a cooling system in both the bike and the suit.”

Uraraka slumped over, relieved and disappointed. Next to her, Shinso giggled, patting her shoulder.

“Need some water?” He asked teasingly, “A water bottle for the thirsty girl?”

“Sleeping bag for the sleepy boy?” She retorted, glaring at him.

He shrugged, still grinning. “Touché,” They both stared at Izuku and Mei, watching as Izu tried to prevent them from dismantling the bike.

Chapter Text

“IZUKUUU! IT'S HERE!” His mom, Inko Midoriya, came barreling down the hallway, waving his letter from UA. He had been waiting all week, and it has finally arrived.

She thrusted her hands out, presenting the letter to him. He smiled, grabbing it from her with a simple “thanks”, and retreating into his room.

“Thanks mom, I…” he paused, grimacing hesitantly, “I think I'm gonna open it in my room, y’know,” he nodded to her, “just in case.”

She faltered, before nodding, giving him a soft smile. “Of course,” she comforted, “I'm here for you, no matter what.”

“I know. Thanks.”

He shut the door, breathing a small sigh of relief. Izu stood over his shoulder as he sat down at his desk. He opened the envelope, and it clattered a small metal disk.

“Huh?” He poked the disk, confused, “What's this?”

It flickered to life, and a hologram emitted from the object. On it, there was a leader board, split in half, with one side saying “Support” and the other saying “Hero”. A small white figure popped up, revealing itself to be Nezu.

“Hello Izuku Midoriya, am I a dog, a mouse, or a bear? The important thing is, I'm the principal!” He spoke in a cheerful voice, throwing his paws up. “And I am here to give you your results for the UA entrance exam,” he broke out into a grin, winking at the camera, “or should I say, the entrance exams!”

“You gained thirty-seven villain points in the Heroics exam, but of course,” his grin widened as a red 37 appeared next to his name on the leader board, “what sort of hero school would we be if we didn't reward the other aspects of heroics?” A green +90 appeared next to Izuku's score, as well as a blue +30 and a yellow +2.

“The exam also tests you for rescue points,” the screen switched to footage of Izuku dragging Uraraka out of the rubble, and then to him defeating the Zero Pointer as Nezu continued to speak, “which you obtained from helping Young Uraraka, as well as defeating the Zero Pointer so that it wouldn't harm any other participants.”

“You also obtained special Inspiration Points!” The screen switched to Shinso helping Izuku, “Those points come from when you obtained assistance from Young Shinso.” The screen switched back to Nedzu, as he clapped his paws together, “And finally, not only do Present Mic's extra points exist and count, but they also serve as a faux-recommendation, meaning your acceptance into this school is not only assured through your points, but only I have the power to accept you into this school, and not any…” His grin strained, becoming unnaturally wide, “unsavory individuals.”

“That said, Izuku Midoriya, with a total of 159 points, as well as an automatic acceptance from yours truly, welcome to your Hero Academia.”

Izuku's eyes began to water, and he gave a choked grin, before Nezu spoke again.

“And to add onto that, your submission into the Support Course was most perplexing, however it was allowed under the rules of the exam, so Power Loader and I had no other choice than to allow you. Congratulations, Young Izu, to your, and Young Midoriya's, Support Academia.”

The leader boards displayed Izuku's scores, a 159 for the Hero Course, and a 498 for the Support Course.

The screen shut off, and Izuku fumbled for his phone as tears welled in his eyes. Izu wordlessly handed his phone to him, and Izuku set up a call with Mei, Uraraka, and Shinso.

“I got it!” He cried once the call connected. Chatter erupted from the other sides as his friends all spoke together.

“Yeah no shit Midoriya, you're first on the leader board.” Shinso's shit-eating grin could be heard from the other side, “I think you beat All Might’s record.”

“Yeah, totally!” Uraraka's voice pierced through, “I got in with 70 points, but how did you get a hundred and fifty nine!?”

“HA! You think that's impressive?” Mei boasted from her end. “I got first place in the support exam, one thousand points.” Izuku could picture the pose she struck- and see it, as she had set up a video call that connected them all while they were talking. “I'm 1000% sure that I'm gonna get into UA.”

An explosion went off behind Mei, rocking her screen. She paid no attention to it, as a flurry of Mei’s locusts swarmed after a couple of small cars. As they passed, a group of larger robot bugs passed by, backtracking to stare at the screen. They caught sight of Shinso, hovering for a minute before flying off, a window breaking in the background.

“We’re gonna need to get some supplies for school, and I have an idea for a new invention for Project RealxEyez.” Izuku waved his hands animatedly as he spoke. He held a diagram to the screen, showing off… a box.

“That’s… a really nice box you got there, Midoriya-kun.” Uraraka said in a confused and patronizing tone.

“Okay, so did no one see Mei’s inventions that ran off? No? Just me?” Shinso questioned, looking worried. “They looked right at me. Should I be worried?”

Izuku ignored him in favor of Uraraka’s more stimulating question. “What? No no no, it’s not just a box.” He flipped the page, revealing a sword-like shape. “It’s also gonna be a sword. It’ll unfold, and I can swing it like a sword, because now I have time to learn how to fight with a sword.”

“Guys?” Shinso looked increasingly more nervous, “They're outside my windows. Guys,” he looked to his window and back to the camera. “Guys what do I do?”

Izuku haphazardly waved his hand. “Let ‘em in, they're harmless. Anyways, you can load a progrise key into here and then-”

There was a loud crash from Shinso's end, and he ran past the screen, chased by two robotic beetles, a dragonfly, a bee, a scorpion, and two grasshoppers, the latter three of which were somehow also flying, while he screamed and brandished a broom at them.

“MIDORIYA! MEI! HELP!!” Shinso swung at the robots, missing them entirely. They made chittering noises, bouncing up and down in the air.

“They don't bite,” Mei replied, disinterested and soldering a new invention's wires.

“YES THEY DO- OH SHIT NO GET BACK-” Shinso dove back as the bug-like robots swarmed him.

Izuku and Uraraka's chatter devolved into laughter as Shinso reappeared, with all of the small robots swarming his hair, making him look like a disgruntled, purple beehive.

Uraraka guffawed, pointing at Shinso through her camera. “He- hey Shinso,” she grinned as she held up a shaky finger, “you- you've got a little something-”

“Zectors.” Mei supplied

“Zectors,” Uraraka continued, “you got a few Zectors right…” her finger made a circling motion “... there.”

“Har har,” Shinso deadpanned, rubbing his face and swatting at the Zectors, “how hilarious. Mei,” he glared at the girl, flicking away the Zectors as they made their home in his hair. “Please tell me you have a way to control these things, like a sword, or a USB stick, hell I'd even take a tomagotchi.”

Mei's manic mug materialized on his monitor, sporting a new soot mark that wasn't there before. “Nope!’ She exclaimed, popping the “p”. “You're 1000% stuck with them! They like you, and they're not leaving. I meant to make a controller for them, but…” she shrugged, making a noncommittal hum, “never got around to it. Oh well! They don't need anything, only a little commitment, enrichment, and chaos. You can handle that, right?”

Shinso sighed as Uraraka and Izuku burst out laughing again. A while later, Inko called for Izuku's help, and he let the call.

He smiled to himself, giddy at the feeling of getting into UA, and at the fact he has some incredible friends.