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Izuku stood at the doors of the testing site, his hands planted on the ground in a sprinter’s start, ready to take off as soon as the test began. This level of confidence was usually rare for the boy, but ever since Present Mic explained they were fighting robots for the practical test, all his doubts flew out the window.
His Quirk, Magnet, was just about the perfect power for this test; a mutation of his mother’s attraction Quirk, it allowed him to pull any metal object toward him, and robots were nothing but metal! He had this test in the bag!
The doors to the testing side flew open, and Izuku didn’t bother waiting for a countdown to take off. As soon as he stepped into the fake city, he began tearing robots apart left and right, stripping them of all their metal until their red lights flashed green, indicating they were taken out.
It wasn’t long before he lost count of how many points he earned, becoming too caught up in the simple joy of playing around with his Quirk to care. Some of the other test-takers might have gotten upset from him supposedly stealing their points, but he was only trying to make sure the robots didn't hurt them. That’s what a hero is supposed to do!
Regardless, he knew the timer was nearly done, so he resolved to pick up his pace. Turning to a One-Pointer rolling down the street, he outstretched his hand and activated his Quirk once again, this time aiming to tear its head off.
Only, as the robot was about to break, Izuku suddenly found himself knocked to the ground when a gray blur slammed into his side.
“Hey!” He pushed himself off the ground with one hand, the other clutching his no doubt bruised kidney.
Lying next to him was a boy with silver hair and jagged teeth, a pair of sweatpants and a tank top that left very little to the imagination. He bared his teeth at Izuku, looking just as annoyed as he was. “‘Hey’ yourself! I was about to get some points! What’d you drag me all the way over here for?”
“Me?!” He indignantly pointed at himself. “I was just using my Quirk!”
“So was I!” To demonstrate, he held up a hand to Izuku’s face, with it turning a reflective shade of gray.
That’s when things started to make sense for Izuku. “Hold on, is that steel?”
“Duh! What else would it be?”
“I figured, because my Quirk lets me attract metal objects… or people in this case.”
The metal boy stood in silence before putting the pieces together. “Oooooooohhh!” He said, realizing this was all just a big misunderstanding. It wasn’t long before he and Izuku were both laughing at the unlikely coincidence. “Sorry for getting so heated, bro.”
“No problem. Honest mistake. We should probably get back to the test though.”
“Yeah. Hope you pass!” The two were about to go their separate ways when the ground suddenly began to shake, nearly knocking them over once again. Their eyes were drawn to the other side of the testing site, where a giant, thirteen-story-tall robot barreled through the fake city, tearing through buildings like they were made of paper.
“That’s the Zero-Pointer they warned us about?!” Izuku gaped, thinking it would've been just a little smaller. But he couldn’t worry about that for long, as right in front of the robot was a girl lying on the road, her legs buried under a pile of rubble.
Forgetting about the test, Izuku sprinted toward the pile of rubble, hoping to help the girl before the Zero-Pointer’s treads crushed her. But as he ran down the street, he couldn’t help but notice the second pair of footsteps at his side.
“You’re going to save her too?” He asked the metal boy running at his side.
“Of course! It’s not manly to just leave someone hanging like that.” He extended a hand towards Izuku. “I’m Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu by the way.”
“Izuku Midoriya.” He quickly shook his hand before focusing back on the girl. Though, in the back of his mind, he was extremely grateful for the extra help. As worried as he was that Tetsutetsu might lose points because of this, his respect for the boy’s devotion to heroism could not be understated.
He could already tell they’d get along just fine.
———————————————
Izuku spent the next few weeks in a perpetual state of worry. Through all the chaos of the exam, he didn’t get the chance to grab Tetsutetsu’s phone number, meaning he had no way of knowing if he passed or not. Even after his own results came in, most of his concern was directed toward his new friend.
Sure, he could make the assumption Tetsutetsu got in thanks to rescue points too, but he had no way of knowing for sure, and that uncertainty led to more than a few sleepless nights.
When the first day of school rolled around and Izuku met his classmates, his hope began to dwindle. He thought he saw Tetsutetsu for a moment, until he realized that was just a different shark-toothed boy with a hardening Quirk (he had no idea it was such a common look).
When his teacher announced a Quirk Assessment Test where the lowest scorer would get expelled, he forced himself to focus on that instead. The last thing he wanted was for his hero career to end before it could even begin. Much to his dismay, there wasn’t much metal lying around for most of the tests, forcing him to rely on his own base strength, which was admittedly pretty good, but still left him at a disadvantage.
When the grip strength test rolled around, he was elated to find out the handles held a significant amount of metal under the rubber coating. ‘Maybe I can attract only one of the grippers toward me, bringing it closer to the other,’ he nodded, figuring it to be a solid plan. He activated his Quirk, focusing his magnetic waves on only the outer half of the grip tester.
And then a large metal force slammed him to the ground.
“Ow…” Through the pain, he felt an odd sense of deja vu. Hoping this meant what he thought it did, he shifted his gaze to see Tetsutetsu laying on his back, looking just as confused as him.
“Tetsutetsu!” He cheered, all but forgetting about his bruised back (Recovery Girl could fix that up).
“Midoriya!” Tetsutetsu greeted in return, much to the confusion of the rest of the class. “Glad to see you, bro. I was worried you didn’t make it in!”
“Nope! I guess we ended up in separate classes,” he chuckled, feeling a bit dumb for not thinking of that before. “I was gonna ask if you wanted to keep in touch after the entrance exam, but then things kinda got crazy with the giant robot.”
“Dude! I was gonna ask the same thing!” From there, it didn’t take long for them to pull out their phones and exchange numbers. “Glad I got to do this now. I was gonna go looking for you after orientation. Wanted to know if you wanted to hang out.”
“I’d love to!” Izuku beamed at the invite. “Well, provided the rest of these tests go well.”
“Yeah, I was about to ask; why is your class out here and not in the auditorium?”
“Mr. Aizawa thought it was a waste of time.” He and Tetsutetsu turned to the teacher, who didn’t deny the accusation. “Now I have to get a decent score on this grip tester or I’ll be expelled.”
“Oh, I can help with that.” Tetsutetsu snatched the device away from Izuku, his literal iron grip squeezing it so hard that the reader shorted out after reaching 999.
“Hey! You can’t get someone else to complete the test for you! That’s cheating!” Iida turned to Aizawa, hoping his teacher would agree with his complaints.
Unfortunately, Aizawa remained as impassive as ever despite the unexpected intrusion. “As long as Tetsutetsu was brought here by Midoriya’s Quirk, then it counts.”
“Wait, does that mean I’m allowed to…” Momo created a grappling hook from her midsection and fired it into the main UA building. She retracted the hook after the line reached its end, dragging along another 1-B student with it, this one with short black hair and a look of pure neutrality. “Could you possibly assist me with the upcoming endurance run?”
“Hm,” the girl responded, greatly confusing Momo.
“Is… that a yes, or…?”
“Hm.”
———————————————
As the class looked down at the USJ’s main fountain area, wondering what the purpose of that unexpected purple portal was, Izuku took a moment to examine his homeroom teacher. Based on the look of concern and fear he had on, it was safe to say this was not a part of their rescue exercise.
His assumption was further proven right when a pale-haired, crusty-looking man stepped out of the portal, followed by dozens of villainous thugs. “Everyone, get to the doors NOW!” Thirteen commanded.
Izuku didn't need to be told twice. He, along with the rest of the class, quickly bolted towards the exit. But right as they were about to throw the doors open, another cloud of purple mist appeared between them and the exit, a pair of glowing yellow eyes looking down on them like insects.
“I apologize, but you must not be allowed to leave at this time,” the mist man told them, his tone far too polite given the circumstances. “Tomura’s plan must go off without a hitch.”
Izuku knew the only chance of escaping was through those doors. Thankfully, they were very clearly made of metal. It was almost like they were asking him to use his Quirk on them. Seeing no reason to turn them down, he extended his hands and pulled on the set of double doors as hard as he could. He wished they weren’t so comically large, otherwise he’d have an easier time getting them open. But as it stood, he grinned and beared it, knowing both the lives of himself and his classmates were on the line.
The door cracked open an inch, the small bit of sunlight pouring into the USJ. Izuku was about to open it further until a large, metal body suddenly burst through the doors, breaking through the mist man’s metal brace as he once again tackled the boy to the ground.
“Oh, hey Midoriya!” Tetsutetsu greeted, his attention fully focused on his friend and not the dozens of other things going on around him.
Izuku failed to return the greeting on account of his current situation; not only was Tetsutetsu on top of him, but his pecs were also smothering his face, leaving him unable to breathe. Of course, breathing was the last thing on Izuku’s mind at the moment.
‘Oh my god, what is happening? Tetsutetsu’s on top of me. HE’S ON TOP OF ME! He’s not even wearing a shirt right now. Why is he not wearing a shirt right now?! Is this part of his hero costume? That’s not a very good costume design. It could leave him vulnerable when he doesn't have his Quirk active. Oh god, I can feel his abs brushing up against my torso. They’re so hard, much harder than mine. They’re like finely-chiseled diamonds. You could grate CHEESE on these things! I don’t even know what to think jwolwnqichoenqwooqlkehebqiann…”
Tetsutetsu failed to pick up on Izuku’s internal panic, but he did notice his face turn a dangerous shade of red, followed by blood spewing from his nose. Immediately, he threw himself off of Izuku and picked him up, bringing his prone form toward the confused Class 1-A.
“GUYS! Something’s wrong with Midoriya!” He showed them his bloody, half-conscious face. “We need to take him to Recovery Girl!”
The students, plus their teacher, all exchanged a series of unimpressed looks. “Kid, I have been creating black holes since I was a toddler, and yet somehow you are the densest thing I’ve ever seen,” Thirteen remarked.
Their assumption was correct, as Tetsutetsu was too dense to pick up on the very un-subtle implications of their statement. “…Huh? You mean my Quirk?”
———————————————
After what happened at the USJ, it took Izuku a full day to form cognitive thoughts again. And when he awoke in Recovery Girl’s office, spotting a ‘get well soon’ card from Tetsutetsu on his bedside, he was left unresponsive for another few hours.
Now he was in one of UA’s private gyms, training his Quirk for not only the Sports Festival, but to make sure such an embarrassing turn of events never occurred again.
He had no idea what was up with Magnet; normally he was able to pick and choose which metal object he could attract, but ever since he met Tetsutetsu, his Quirk always went out of his way to bring them closer, regardless of distance.
“Is he made of some extra magnetic alloy or something?” Izuku asked himself, knowing he’d have to do some research in addition to his training. For now, however, he needed to fine tune his attraction skills.
Placing a small metal ball on the other side of the room, he took a few steps back before activating his Quirk on it. When the ball lifted off the ground and slowly floated toward him, he started to think he was on the right track. Then his hopes were immediately dashed when Tetsutetsu somehow crashed through the training room’s reinforced walls.
“Oh, hey Midoriya! You’re training for the Sports Festival too?”
At the very least, Izuku could appreciate how Tetsutetsu dropped his Quirk right before crashing into him this time, saving him both a concussion and a scolding from Recovery Girl . “Yeah… I was trying to make sure this didn't happen again.” He nervously shoved Tetsutetsu away, his blush thankfully much weaker than last time.
Tetsutetsu’s smile fell, shifting into a look of concern. “Oh… really?”
“Yeah, really,” Izuku nodded, unsure why Tetsutetsu gave such a reaction. “I assumed you weren’t the biggest fan of getting pulled away from whatever you’re doing and sent crashing into me. If anything, it just gives us an excuse to see each other.”
Tetsutetsu looked like he understood, yet he didn’t appear any more put off by that fact. “If it were anyone else, then yeah, I might get a little annoyed. But you’re my bro, Midoriya. There’s no one else I’d rather crash into than you.”
He cheerfully slugged Izuku on the arm, who felt his heart melt. Never in his life had he heard such an extremely specific yet touching declaration. “You really mean it?”
“Of course, man!” With a sharp, toothy grin, Tetsutetsu wrapped a hand around Izuku’s shoulder and led him out the training room, failing to pick up on how much he leaned into the touch. “And since we’re both here, how ‘bout we hit the gym together? Training’s always more fun with a partner.”
“Sounds great!” He perked up with excitement. “But I still can’t have you latching onto me during the Sports Festival.”
“Why not?”
“If I activate Magnet during the tournament round and you come flying in from the stands, the referee might count that as outside interference.”
“And then you’ll get disqualified,” Tetsutetsu finished, humming thoughtfully. “Don’t worry, I think I know how to fix that.”
———————————————
“And for our next match, we have The Human Magnet: Izuku Midoriya, versus Gen Ed’s Underdog: Hitoshi Shinso!”
“Oop, that’s my cue.” At Present Mic’s announcement, Tetsutetsu pulled out a rope from his backpack and tied himself down to his seat.
Naturally, this earned quite a few strange looks from his classmates. “What the heck are you doing?” Setsuna asked.
“I’m making sure Midoriya doesn’t accidentally attract me into the ring during his fight,” he explained, his response only garnering more confusion.
“Wait, but doesn't that only happen when you have your Quirk on?” Kendo pointed out, ever the voice of reason. “It can’t be that hard to not turn metal for a few minutes.”
“I just wanna be safe.” He didn’t trust himself not to forget for a split second and activate his Quirk out of boredom.
“But what if Mr. Magnet attracts you away from the arena during your match? What’ll you do then? Hmmmmmmmm?” Setsuna brought up, repeatedly poking her classmate’s shoulder.
“I know for a fact he’s responsible enough not to accidentally do that. Plus, he’s got at least a dozen pairs of gloves to put on. He tells me it should block the magnetism rays or whatever.”
“Even though he was able to abduct you through all those walls during orientation?” Monoma remarked, his face scrunched up in annoyance as he glared down at the arena. “Why are we even bringing up those 1-A plebians anyways? If they need you to save them at the USJ, then it’s clear as day which class is superior.”
“Hey, don’t underestimate my bro like that!” Tetsutetsu stood up for his friend (minus the standing part). “I’ve seen him train. I wouldn’t be surprised if he won the whole thing.”
“Eh, no offense, Tetsutetsu, but how?” Kendo’s skepticism was on clear display. “His Quirk lets him attract metal, right? There’s not much metal out on the field.”
“And in a shocking turn of events, Izuku Midoriya has manipulated the trace amount of metal in Shinso’s body to force him to yield!” Present Mic announced, drawing everyone’s attention back to the arena, where Shinso was convulsing in pain on the ground.
“…That’s kinda fucked up,” Setsuna stated, partially glad she had already lost her round.
“Don’t worry, he can put them back to normal,” Tetsutetsu assured, completely unfazed by what had just occurred. “I would know, he tried it on me first.”
At this point, the entirety of Class 1-B had their eyes trained on Tetsutetsu, looking at him like he was insane. “Dude, what the fu-”
———————————————
Izuku had no idea how he managed to get caught up in two villain attacks in the same year. He considered himself to be decently lucky, so maybe this was all his bad luck catching up to him. Why else would the hero he was interning with be called into Hosu to fill in for another hero who got sick?
Either way, now wasn’t exactly the time for introspection, on account of the katana-wielding serial killer looming over his paralyzed body.
“You tried to get in the way of my mission,” the Hero Killer scolded him. “I’ll take care of you once I’ve dealt with these other two fakes.” He moved to Iida’s similarly unmoving body, ready to drive his blade into his chest.
For obvious reasons, Izuku couldn't let that happen, so he activated his Quirk on Stain’s katana, hoping it would slip out of his hands. While Stain maintained his grip, the katana jerked forward enough to avoid Iida’s body, sparks flying as it struck the concrete instead.
The relief Izuku felt dried up in an instant when Stain turned to glare at him, seemingly realizing what had occurred. “On the other hand, if you’re so insistent on getting in my way, then perhaps I’ll kill you first!”
Despite the inevitability of death hanging over him, Izuku wasn’t nearly as panicked as he should have been. Even though it appeared he was out of options, there was still one person he could rely on, no matter the time or place.
Stain pressed his sword to Izuku’s throat, ready to slice it open, until a loud CLANG sound reverberated across the alleyway. When Tetsutetsu opened his eyes, he fretted over the Hero Killer’s unconscious body. “Uhhhhh… is this a bad time? I’d hate to interrupt a fight. That’s like, the least manly thing to do.”
“Wh-where did you come from?” Native asked, shocked from seeing yet another high-schooler literally fly into the alleyway and headbutt Stain in the face.
“I’m, uh, not sure…” He frustratedly tapped his knuckles to his forehead as if trying extra hard to remember a specific detail. “Which city does Fourth Kind operate in again?”
“Hiroshima Prefecture, over fifty miles away,” Iida answered, his eyes switching to the other unmoving body on the ground. “Midoriya, how far does your Quirk reach again?”
“Fifty feet, not fifty miles…” He muttered. As relieved as he felt with Tetsutetsu around, that didn’t mean he understood how he got here in the first place. “How does this keep happening? This defiles all my notebook entries, and maybe Quirk science itself!”
“It’s the power of friendship, man!” Despite the nonsensical nature of Tetsutetsu’s claim, Izuku considered it.
“Could it be that my Quirk has some kind of mental component that increases the range of attraction for any metal object I have a strong emotional connection to? I’ll have to test this on my All Might fridge magnets.”
———————————————
“Hey, Midoriya?”
“Huh?” Izuku looked up from his phone, pausing his texting with Tetsutetsu to greet Mina and Toru, who stood at his desk with barely-contained excitement.
“Not to be nosy or anything…”
“Except we’re totally being nosy!” Toru interrupted her friend, slamming a pair of invisible hands on the desk. “What’s the deal with you and Tetsutetsu?!”
As much as his combat skills have improved during his time at UA, Izuku failed to fight the blush that spread across his face. He wasn’t dumb or anything, he could tell what the school’s resident gossip girls were insinuating, yet he tried to play dumb for his own sake. “Wh-what about Tetsu? We just keep crashing into each other thanks to our Quirks. Sure, he might have saved my skin a few times by now, but that’s just ‘cause we’re bros!”
Despite his insistence, Mina’s sly grin refused to leave her face (and he assumed the same held true for Toru). “You say that, but we all heard you calling him ‘Tetsu’ just now. Already at the nickname stage, aren’t we?”
Izuku slapped a hand over his mouth, mentally cursing his slippery tongue. “F-friends can still have nicknames t-too! It’s not like we’re dating or anything.”
“Wait, you’re not?” Kaminari spoke up from behind.
“Oh, well that’s news to me.” Momo seemed almost disappointed at the reveal, as were several of Izuku’s classmates.
“Of course we’re not!” Izuku snapped at them. “What gave everyone that idea?”
“I mean… it’s somewhat obvious.“ Even Iida was capable of picking up on the signs. “We all witnessed what occurred at the USJ.”
“Well, uh, I mean…” Izuku was at a loss for words. “Okay, maybe I like how he looks, and his infectiously positive attitude, and his unyielding determination, and his… pecs, but I don’t know if he feels the same way about me!”
“Dude…” Kirishima slid up to him, phone in hand. “I talk to Tetsutetsu all the time, and he says you’re the manliest guy ever.”
“Wait, really?” His eyes grew wide as he scrolled through Kirishima and Tetsutetsu’s text messages. As much as it felt like an invasion of privacy, it also did wonders in putting his lingering doubts to rest.
“You know what you gotta do now.” Kirishima led him out the door. “Go out there and be a man for him!”
“Right! Of course! Thanks guys!” He ran down the hallway to Classroom 1-B, only to stop after realizing he could just make Tetsutetsu come to him instead. Less than a second after activating his Quirk, Izuku’s metal-headed crush burst out of the classroom and came flying toward him. This time, however, Izuku was more than prepared, catching Tetsutetsu in midair instead of letting him tackle him to the ground.
“You always attract me right as I’m using my Quirk,” he chuckled, unbothered that he was suddenly pulled from class. “Anyways, what’s up?”
“Tetsutetsu,” Izuku referred to him by his first name to show how serious he was, “there’s something I wanted to tell you, but I need to ask you a question first.” He swallowed a lump in his throat, doing his best not to fall apart from the stress. “What are we?”
“We’re bros, of course!” Tetsutetsu answered without missing a beat. Despite his beaming grin, it wasn’t quite the answer Izuku was looking for.
“Okay, but what exactly does being ‘bros’ entail?”
“What does that entail?” He repeated the question, looking like he had never stopped to think about it himself. “It probably depends on who you ask, but for me, having a bro means having someone who will stick with you through thick and thin; someone who’s always game to hang out or train at the gym. A true bro is probably the most important person in a bro’s life, the kind of person you’d wanna spend the rest of your life with! You feel me?”
Izuku did not ‘feel him’. In fact, he was pretty sure they were on completely separate pages. “When you say ‘spend the rest of your life with them’, do you mean that in a romantic sense, or…”
“Yeah, sure. If you want.” Izuku nearly passed out at just how casually Tetsutetsu admitted that.
‘This is all happening so fast. I knew being bros meant we were close on some level, but has Tetsutetsu been viewing our relationship as romantic this whole time? Do I need to start catching up as a boyfriend? Should I start planning some dates for the two of us? Should I-’
“Anyways, what did you want to tell me?”
Izuku mentally paused, his thoughts all grinding to a halt as he came to a startling realization about his crush. ‘He still hasn’t figured it out, has he? Geez, how is it possible to be denser than the metal you’re made of?’
Taking a deep breath to reorient his thoughts, Izuku decided to approach his confession from a different angle. “Tetsu, I think your definition of ‘bro’ is very fitting.”
“I figured it was. I based my definition on us. Because when I think ‘bro’, I always think about you.”
Izuku felt his heart swell, almost jealous of Tetsutetsu for being so sweet without even knowing. “W-well, if that’s the case, how about we keep being bros? Just you and me.” He held out a sweaty palm toward the other boy, hoping he’d pick up on the implications.
If the light dusting of his cheeks was any indication, then it was clear he did. But instead of directly taking his hand, Tetsutetsu turned his own hand into metal before bringing it mere inches away from Izuku’s.
The other boy immediately knew what to do; like clockwork, he activated his Quirk, attracting Tetsutetsu’s hand into his.
“Heh, I guess you could say I’m pretty… attracted to you?” Tetsutetsu was unable to hide the nervousness in his smile.
Even as Izuku’s face turned red, he couldn't help but laugh at the corniness of the line. “Heh, I guess we are. Did you really come up with that on the spot?”
A bit of Tetsutetsu’s bravado returned to him as he gave an exaggerated shrug. “Hey, I’m more clever than I look.”
“Well, that sets the bar pretty high for our relationship,” Izuku playfully giggled, feeling close to bursting with joy now that it was official. “I hope you can keep sweeping me off my feet like that.”
“Now that’s a challenge I’m willing to take!” He tightened his fist, bearing his trademark determined grin. Even though they just started out, Izuku already knew he’d do great.