The Start of Team Tanya part 1

Midoriya slouched on the side of his bed, his phone sat patiently in his hand, his foot slowly tapped a slow and dreadful beat on the floor. Around him the unmoving faces of his mentor stared down at him with unspoken criticism. They silently judged his inaction with unshakable expressions. He eyed the contact for All Might, the call button ready to be swiped.

In his heart, something felt… like it didn't sit right. 'At the USJ, I didn't blame Tanya for what she did, we were up against villains too early… None of the class really could blame her… But some part of me… blames myself. I took the mantle of One For All to save everyone, yet at the USJ all I could do was run away. The class needed a hero to save them.' The stories he heard from his classmates haunted him. How Koda ran and screamed till he nearly passed out. Ojiro had fought off a horde of villains by himself. Toru nearly got caught. Their stories made his seem almost tame in comparison.

He had One For All, he could have sacrificed every finger on one hand and guaranteed himself safety… 'But that's the issue, isn't it? Even if I expend myself efficiently, there are too many threats for me alone to handle. I could only save myself and those immediately around me… and even then Tsuyu almost got killed.'

His thumb touched the contact, ready to swipe and call. He whispered to himself as he gained newfound conviction, determination given direction, "I need to learn how to use One For All. To save everyone, I need more power and experience. I need to become worthy."

The phone rang in his hand. Anxiety tried to crawl up Midoriya's spine until it burned up from his blazing drive.

"Young Midoriya!" All Might's boisterous voice came through, followed by his coughing and a shot of steam. Now, much calmer, "What brings your call?"

"I-I want to practice with One For All!" Deku blurted out, a fist curled onto his lap.

"Oh?" Yagi asked. He sounded a bit surprised. The old hero grew concerned as he thought, 'But, it still tears him apart to use… I'll hear him out though.'

"At the USJ, everyone was in so much danger and I-" Deku was cut off.

"Hold none of the responsibility." All Might said, his stern voice took control of the sentence. "That would lay with me."

Deku stuttered, "B-but you weren't even there."

The silence on the other side of the phone gave the young man pause. Something heavy sat in the silence, unspoken as it writhed and took form.

"You ran out of time… How long do you have left?" Midoriya asked, a shadow over his face.

"Long enough." With words as strong and patient as a bulwark, Yagi put forth his situation. "I have long enough to train the class. Long enough to train you."

"So… Will you train me to use my Quirk?" Midoriya perked up. The strength his teacher showed bolstered his morale.

"Yes Young Midoriya, I shall! By the time the sports festival rolls around, Recovery Girl won't have to worry about a thing!" He laughed.

With the warm, high noon sun overhead, Midoriya stretched as he waited in the training grounds. He wore his hybrid gym/hero costume while he pushed the stiffness out of his arms.

"Hello Young Midoriya." Yagi called out from behind him.

Deku spun around and paused for a second. Beside Yagi was none other than Recovery Girl, her cane tapping along as they walked. He quickly bowed as his voice stammered, "Ms. Recovery Girl! I-I wasn't expecting you!"

"Hmph." She huffed. "Calling me out to help with training was perhaps the most responsible thing you've done as a teacher yet Toshinori."

Yagi rubbed the back of his head as he explained his thoughts to his protege. "Young Midoriya, it's no stranger to either of us that One For All hurts you to use."

Midorya grew excited! "So you plan on having sensei use her healing Quirk to accelerate my growth! When working out, your muscles tear apart and build back stronger. Are we applying that logic to it's mo-"

He shut up the moment Recovery Girl smacked her cane into the ground. "We will be doing no such thing young man!" She chastised. With an exhale, she calmed down and spoke, "I am not here to be an accelerant of your self-destructive behavior, but to be a guard rail to help you learn to temper them."

He bowed his head. "Thank you Recovery Girl. It means a lot to me that you'd join us out here today."

She gave an honest smile. As a doctor, students often wrote her off till they needed her, and some never learned their lesson. It felt good to be respected. She walked aside and took a seat at a mock bus stop, complete with an overhang.

"All right Young Midoriya! Let's start!" All Might puffed up and cheered.

UA had given their students a week off, but some… some never rested.

Midoriya, All Might, and Recovery Girl started their training. During the week off, they'd have more time to dedicate to One For All. With grueling amounts of determination, perseverance, and pain, Midoriya slowly tempered and attuned to the power bestowed upon him.

But, he wasn't the only student pushing forward. While Deku struggled to tame the beast with 8 lives of strength, Tanya began putting her own plans into action.

`

Tanya hummed along in response to the chatter coming over her phone. Mina was busy fending off a little sibling. She sat in her office chair while idly spinning, her wings shifted to keep her momentum going. Now that she looked at it, her room more resembled an at-home office than a teenage girls bedroom. Other than her bed, wardrobe, and mirror, everything else was dedicated to productivity. She had a cheap desk with a laptop and a filing cabinet to call her own. The poor thing was full of all the random papers that worm their way into your life but typically have nowhere to go. Handling her adoptive fathers taxes tended to do that. At least they were organized.

She held back a sigh while she heard a door close on Mina's side of the call. 'While annoying, this is a necessary part of networking. Without military hierarchy, I require goodwill and mutual benefit to assemble and strengthen my team. I have everyone picked out, now I just have to strengthen some bonds. Once those are good to go, I'll train them to be an effective fighting unit.'

On the other side of the phone, Mina finally calmed down enough for Tanya to get a word in, "Yes, Mina, I actually wanted to call and ask about a few things."

She was answered by a curious "Gooo on?"

"Some of our classes can be pretty tough," Tanya began her sales pitch by starting with a sympathetic note, "and with all of our hero training, I figured we can all use a little help." She finished rolling out her carpet with a promise of being mutual beneficiaries.

A shadow flashed over Mina's face. 'Class is tough? Tanya… we were in a life or death situation like 2 days ago. You killed a man… and saved Tsuyu for it. If it were me… I wouldn't have had any other choice. All I could have done is hope my Quirk wouldn't have killed them on the spot, and if it did, well… It would be a price I'd be willing to pay.' While Mina wasn't terribly comfortable with Tanya's decision, she forgave on the account that she couldn't have seen herself doing better. If it was between a murderous villain and Tsu, she'd choose Tsu every time.

She wagged her head around and shook off that downbeat feeling. 'Tsuyu is still alive! Tanya is still alive! We are all still here! I should be happy about what good there is!'

"Well… I have been struggling." Mina shyly admitted. "Books smarts has been the one friend I could never win over." She grinned to herself while she thought, 'She's looking for something, I'll play along for now.'

'Good.' Tanya smiled as she heard Mina's white flag go up. "I was wondering if you'd like to help me set up a study group?"

Unseen by Tanya, Mina's grin grew three sizes. 'An excuse to get some students together.' Her shipping instincts were going off. The hunch was paying off. "I take it, you'd like Bakugo to be there?" She asked with all the charm of the cheshire cat.

"He's on my list of people I'd like to invite." Tanya answered. She had an odd feeling of confusion with Mina, like the girl was plotting something. "Why do you ask?" She prodded with a voice of lighthearted curiosity.

'Gotcha. There's something there.' Mina could feel the fireworks going off already. "I've just been seeing you two hanging out a lot in our classes is all." She idly reached up and tapped at her horn. 'If I play this right, I can get a reading on just how she feels about him.'

"We're classmates… We sit right next to each other. Time spent together is only natural under such circumstances." Tanya deadpanned. Her wings drooped in confusion. The pink girl was a total anomaly to her.

"Is that why you compare grades after class?" Mina jabbed a question. She bounced off her bed and onto her feet, she could barely contain the overabundance of energy she had at reserve for juicy talks like the one they were currently having.

"He has a competitive spirit." Tanya defended. She began to sit upright as she felt a flurry of Mina energy coming towards her. 'Quickly, try to change the topic and shut her down!' She barked an order to herself and began erecting a defense. "Maintaining good grades is a healthy endeavor, and benchmarking around others can be a good measure of one's progress. One should strive to bring their best and sharpen their skills. Hence the study group."

'So you share common traits in ambition and competition! let's see how many more!' Mina flanked around with the bus memory. "Odd that you'd want to hang out with him though? You practically had to hold him from going feral on the bus."

Tanya tried to rationalize the defense of her classmate. She waved off the ridiculous scene. "Kaminari started taunting him, and with his short fuse he went off. He wouldn't have done anything serious other than shout at him, but with our expulsion happy teacher, I didn't want that to get him in trouble."

'She's protecting him! Beauty and the raging beast! It's so cute!' Mina took a skip step across her room before turning back around. "So you wanted to keep him safe?" She playfully jabbed with a powerful question. Mina knew she could drive it in deeper, but she had everything she wanted already.

"I'd like to not lose my… friends to Professor Aizawa's whims." She had caught herself before she said something foolish like recruits, or troops. 'That was a close one.'

Mina flopped back onto her bed with a shit eating grin. 'She had struggled with the word friend. Hahaha. She wants more than that.' She swallowed a laugh before saying, "Seeing as you're friends with him, I can hook you up with his phone number."

Tanya paused as she wondered where Mina had gotten his number from before seizing the chance. "Oh, I'd like that. Could you text it to me?"

'Oh Tanya, I had picked it up after the USJ.' Mina had already begun typing the number before the winged girl had spoken. 'The poor boy tried to yell and scare me off, but the moment I brought up your name, he gave it over without a fight.'

Her phone pinged in her ear which caused her to reel away from it for a second. "Thank you." She said with a swift respect.

While Tanya set up their study session for tomorrow, she realized how simultaneously annoying yet intriguing Mina was. Talking to her gave Tanya the impression of flying through endless fields of invisible mines.

'Perhaps Mina has more of a head for social working than I thought.' Tanya made a note as she got a message back from Bakugo.

Bakugo: Raccoon Eyes told me you'd contact me

Tanya: Ok, but will you go? Kanbi Corner at 1PM

Bakugo: I don't need to study!!!

A moment passed as Tanya stared at her phone, half amused that even his texts gave the impression of a screaming adolescent. She mused as she looked at the Is Typing symbol, 'But he didn't decline going.'

Bakugo: I need to find something good on their menu.

The study day had come, and initially Tanya had thought herself to have been early but…

"Hey!" Mina waved her over. The pink girl was nearly jumping with energy as she came over to Tanya. "You made it, and you're all dressed up!"

"This is what I normally wear." Tanya was confused by Mina's compliment. She wore her usual attire, a white office blouse and gray dress pants. Custom made with openings for her wings.

"But I've never seen you wear it before?" Mina asked, her hype train became confused. 'Did she not dress up for this? She can't seriously wear an office dress all the time?!'

"You've never seen me without my uniform." Tanya reminded her. "Besides, it's best to always look presentable." Her wings shifted as she adjusted her posture.

Tanya couldn't bring her head around Mina's outfit. It was a bright, colorful mess that gave her the same feeling she could only imagine military officers of old felt when they watched the nobility in one of their countless parties, disorienting. Where Tanya's outfit was in all grays and whites, Mina's seemed to be unable to make up its mind and chose random colors from the entirety of the color wheel. Dark brown running shoes, white and purple splattered socks that came over her calves. Black with white striped running shorts. A purple graphic tee with the logo of some obscure band Tanya didn't recognise on it. And the most offensive of them all, an unzipped sweater stylised in a fashion similar to her hero outfit, in a variety of blues and lavenders, and was covered with so many off-color patches the thing looked to be more patches than original cloth.

Upon closer inspection, many of the patches were more music groups, dance groups even of the training variety, an ice skating competition, and a couple were just for fun. There was even a chibi xenomorph.

'Hmm.' Tanya made a note. 'She must live a very… active lifestyle. An interesting choice to wear all of that at the same time. Reminds me of an adventurer's suitcase, covered in stickers of their various destinations over the years.'

Mina dashed over to the door and waved for Tanya to catch up to her, "Come on! Sato already has us all set up!"

Tanya took a long, deep sigh before walking after Mina. 'They'll take a little adjusting to. The world of heroes is markedly only semi-professional, so as long as efficiency is maintained then it is acceptable.'

Entering into the familiar cafe, Sato was already at a table and looking at them. He gave a small wave from behind his small mountain of textbooks. Hero arts, mathematics, a few language books, and of course there was the ever-so-helpful battle strategy guide that All Might never used in his class.

For a moment, and only a moment, Sato looked through Tanya rather than at her. His eyes were glazed over by a cloud of thought. 'I made friends with a killer. No, that's not right. I am in no position to judge her when I nearly killed a man myself. That gun dude, if there weren't other villains to fight, I would have killed him there. Tanya was just in a transformation, like myself, and she did what she could. The only thing separating us is focus. If I was a little more focused, or maybe a little less, I would also be a killer too.' Sato brought himself to look to Tanya and see that the fault he saw was in himself as well. He blamed both of them, then shouldered it… there was nothing more either of them could have done.

His outfit was disappointing by Mina's standards and understable by Tanya's standards. An extremely large, well worn shirt with a faded SUGAR written on it. His muscles were pushing the poor shirt to its limits. Alongside those, he wore simple jeans with red and white sneakers.

'I see they've gotten set up. No signs of actual study yet, but points for preparation and punctuality.' Tanya gave her judgment of the duo's attempt at a start.

Mina practically flew into her seat at the rectangular table to the left of Sato, which left the last open seats together. 'Eh! I'm so excited!'

Sato's eyes shot open as he grabbed the back of Mina's tipping chair and eased her back up. "Woah, almost fell over there." He gave a weak chuckle.

Tanya raised a confused and half concerned eyebrow as she took her seat. Her wings once again folded up and became a throne backing for her. "Shall we get to work?"

She watched as Mina sheepishly looked away and Sato's only tell was glazed over eyes. "I see…" Tanya muttered. "I take it neither of you are the studying-regularly type?"

"Well." Sato quietly droned as he fidgeted with one of the books. "I've tried but no amount of effort gets me away from consistent Cs." He lost eye contact with Tanya. "After some point, I began to see it… like a meaningless ritual. If the outcome is always the same, why bother?"

Mina playfully slugged him in his massive arm, he winced as he was snapped out of his headspace. "Don't go saying depressing nonsense! We're heroes! Trying is the bare minimum!" She gave a toothy grin.

"And what of your studies Mina?" Tanya's question rang like an ominous bell upon Mina's ears.

Internally she began to cry. 'I just wanted to push my ships! Don't actually make me study! Don't do this to meeeeeeeeeee!'

Mina propped her hands up by her horns and stuck her tongue out. "Nothing to worry about!"

"She needs your help." Sato threw her under the Tanya bus. He propped his hands up on the table like a businessman as Mina froze up beside him.