10

Chapter Text

The next day was Sunday, the last day of move-in and the last day before school started. He was used to getting up early due to his years of conditioning with his father, and he had no intention of sleeping in now. At the crack of dawn, he and Katsuki met up to take a jog around the UA campus.

Izuku knew that UA was big, but he didn't fully appreciate it until he took that jog. Katsuki and he ran their normal distance, which covered a healthy number of city blocks, and they had barely explored a corner of the property. There was the main building, of course, which was huge. Then there were two dorms for the hero course, three for general education, three for support course and three more for the business course. Four years of school meant 44 separate residential halls. Then there was the stadium, the USJ, the numerous training grounds and facilities, the mock cities and more.

"This place is more like its own city than a campus," Izuku puffed as he ran alongside his friend.

"Imagine how much it cost to buy just the land for this, not to mention all the buildings," Katsuki pointed out.

The boys returned to their hall a little bit after seven, sweating and satisfied from a successful workout. A few scorch marks on Izuku's arms and a few traces of blood along Katsuki's betrayed the fact that they had gone a few rounds as part of their exercise.

After a shower and a quick breakfast, the two left and caught the train back to Izuku's house. Hisashi was leaving on a business trip the next morning to I-Island, so the Bakugous and Midoriyas were having a small get-together.

By the time the boys returned to UA in the late afternoon, all of the other students had arrived. Izuku set to work scouting out the six he hadn't met the previous day. Five were boys, for a total of 12. The girl was a foreigner, American by the looks of it, by the name of Pony Tsunotori. She had a pair of impressive horns sticking straight up out of her head, which Ashido had already spotted with another shout of "Horns!" Izuku was later informed by Ashido that Tsunotori was his friend now as well.

Next, there was a student with a strange, pointed head that put him on par with Satou in terms of height. He had a muscular build, but seemed supremely shy and quiet, to the point that Izuku didn't even hear him speak. It was only by pointing at a nametag on his luggage that he was able to tell Izuku that his name was Kouji Kouda.

Just in case Izuku still entertained the idea that he was one of the taller students, next he met a giant named Mezou Shouji. He had six arms, wore a mask and stood about two inches taller than Satou and Kouda. He also seemed reserved and stoic. Izuku noted that he would likely get along well with Tokoyami, but couldn't get much of a read on him beyond that.

Yuuga Aoyama was a bit much for Izuku, but he could immediately tell that his dazzling outward persona was a shield. The boy seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve, but the heart was a decoy. Izuku quickly figured that, despite talking about himself all the time, he never truly said anything about himself.

Then there was the purple one. Minoru Mineta immediately set off red flags in Izuku's mind. He noticed that the boy took every opportunity to stare at the women in the class. He was short, crude and completely shameless. Izuku had him pegged as trouble nearly as soon as he met him, which was something that didn't often happen.

The last student he knew from name only. He had apparently gone up to his room as soon as he arrived and hadn't come out. Ashido had told him that she saw the name 'Todoroki' on the backpack he was carrying, which immediately let Izuku know what he needed to.

Izuku had seen Endeavor many times at the hero events he attended with his father, but he had never seen his children. He knew that he had them, but Endeavor was not a family man. He was at those events purely for political reasons. If his son was anything like him, then he was one to watch out for. Endeavor left a sour taste in Izuku's mouth, and while perhaps this boy was different, he would be cautious.

And with that, Izuku knew all the pieces on the board. Factors such as teachers were still unaccounted for, but he now knew the most important parts of what he was working with. Satisfied with his foundation, he made the first move in his game.

"Yo, Kirishima! Satou!" Izuku called out to the two who were sitting near each other next to the TV. "Kacchan and I are heading out to check out the gym. Wanna come?" This was an easy way to start the game strong, pun intended.

Both students grew wide smiles and immediately agreed. The four made their way across campus to the rather impressive weight room and set to work. Kirishima paired off with Katsuki, while Izuku and Satou spotted for each other.

Now, Izuku was stronger than the average person, thanks to his genes and his years of training, but he didn't have much of anything on Satou. The man crushed all of Izuku's personal records without even trying. Izuku couldn't help but grin. He would make a point of training with Satou more in the future. No better person in class to help Izuku strength train than him.

Katsuki and Kirishima seemed to be getting along well enough, and he tolerated Satou. He had already given them both nicknames, which, Izuku noted, was a good step. 'Weird Hair' took all of Katsuki's jabs in stride and accepted every challenge that he laid out. Izuku could tell by the look in his friend's eyes that he was begrudgingly impressed with Kirishima's spirit.

The workout didn't last too long. "We don't want to tire ourselves out too much for class tomorrow, who knows what crazy crap they'll have us doing," Katsuki wisely reminded Izuku on the way over. Besides, Izuku had the second move of his game already planned out.

Izuku encouraged the other three to jog back to the dorm with him as a 'cool down', but he really just wanted to get back as fast as he could to begin the next phase. A quick shower and a quick change of clothes brought Izuku back down to the kitchen as fast as he could manage. He pulled the notecards out of his pocket and set to work.

"Hey, mom?" Earlier that day Izuku had been helping his mother prepare the lunch for the party. The two of them often cooked together, and it was one of their most common bonding activities during his childhood. Especially when his father wasn't home.

"Yes, Izuku?" Inko was a fantastic cook; she fed two dragons every day, so it wasn't surprising. She was proud at how well Izuku had taken after her, and she secretly thought that Izuku would surpass her in a few years. Cooking with her son always brought a smile to her face, and it was one of the things she would miss most with him moving out.

"I want to cook dinner for all my new classmates tonight. Do you have some recipes I could use?"

Inko smiled widely. "Of course! It's so nice of you to want to cook for your new friends. Here, I have a few you could use. Oh! And here's one for dessert." She was frantically writing down some of her favorites on some notecards as she gushed.

"Thanks, mom. I'll be sure to try and do your recipes justice."

"Oh, I'm not worried about that, sweetie. Just remember to make enough for everyone!"

Uraraka, Ashido and the other girls were making their way downstairs to make dinner later that evening. They had spent most of the day getting to know each other, talking about their high schools and parents, what heroes they liked (thanks, Midoriya), and what hobbies they enjoyed.

They were chatting about some of their favorite foods when they entered the common room and smelled something heavenly coming from the kitchen. Then they noticed everyone else in the dorm eating, sitting at the counter or around the couches.

"Oh, hey girls!" Midoriya called out from behind the stove, waving at them. "You're just in time, dinner was just served. Come get it while it's hot!"

"Did you cook for everyone?" Jirou asked incredulously.

"Yep!" Midoriya was cheerfully working on something in a pot. "I figured a big meal together to celebrate us all getting into UA before classes start tomorrow would be a good idea."

"I won't turn down free food!" Hagakure moved first out of the eight girls, which quickly caused the others to follow.

'I really hope this food isn't good,' Uraraka thought desperately. 'Please don't be a good cook, I'm beggin' ya'!'

"Midoriya, what is this?" Ashido looked like she was about to start salivating.

"Oh! That's one of the new recipes my mom gave me today. It's cold soba with natto and okra, it's has a really interesting taste and texture. It's one of my favorites that she makes."

Ashido looked like she was about to start vibrating as she eagerly filled a bowl with the dish. 'Holy crap, he can cook, too?!'

The girls all thanked Midoriya for his hard work and piled their bowls high with the soba and the other sides he made. They sat down in a eight-person circle off to the side of the room and ate together happily. After they finished, Ochako took the opportunity to look around the room. And by that, she meant look at the cook.

She noticed immediately that his eyes were glowing ever so slightly. If you didn't know what they normally looked like, you might have missed it. His eyes seemed to be roaming the room, observing and studying all of the other students. She noted with a bit of disappointment that his eyes never met hers, as if he was intentionally avoiding her gaze.

She also noticed that everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Even that mysterious Todoroki boy was eating, seemingly enjoying the soba. Ashido and him had a stare-down over the last helping, which he eventually won, much to the pink girl's dismay.

She also noticed that weird, short guy was staring over at her and the other girls nearly the entire time. He had already gotten an ear full of audio jack from Jirou earlier that day when he tried to get a little friendly with Yaoyorozu. He didn't even meet her eyes when she looked at him, his gaze focused firmly a bit below her-

She shot him an angry look that he didn't acknowledge and then turned back to the group of girls. 'What a little scumbag.'

She tried to distract herself by talking with the other girls, trying to ignore Ashido's incessant staring. 'Why don't I mind her starin' at me?' Despite all her efforts, her thoughts always returned to the green-haired boy behind the counter. 'That meal was amazin'... it's not fair. Are you just here to make things difficult for me?'

Ochako dared to glance at him again. Her eyes went wide. 'No. No no no. No, please no.'

"Hey guys, don't forget to leave room for dessert!" He was cheerily kneading something on the counter. "My mom gave me this great mochi recipe and I'm making enough for each of you."

'That's… not fair…' Ochako tried to keep her mouth from watering. 'Maybe… maybe his mochi won't be as good as his soba…?'

Izuku's plan had been a resounding success. He grinned at the satisfied looks of his classmates. While everyone seemed to appreciate the meal, he had gained a few pieces of unexpected information.

Firstly, Ashido had seemed thrilled with his soba. 'Was it the okra?' She had seemed to shiver as she ate it. He made a note to cook something with it in the future to test his hypothesis. He smiled and looked over to her, noting to himself how enjoyable it was to see her so pleased. 'That shirt is really low-cut and loose. She's clearly very confident and comfortable with her body. I can see why, too; she's pretty uh, gifted.'

Izuku quickly moved on before he blushed as green as the okra. Uraraka had a very peculiar reaction to the food. He had hoped to impress her, but she acted almost… resigned? She seemed to like the food; she had come back for seconds on the soba and she ate more of the mochi than anyone else but Satou, so that probably wasn't it. 'She looked almost… defeated? Weird… I liked watching her walk away from the counter a bunch, though.'

Izuku grew a single claw and jabbed himself hard in the leg. 'Get your mind out of the gutter, Izuku. Ashido and Uraraka are beautiful women, yes, but they're way out of your league. Just calm down and focus.'

He sighed. 'Focus, right. Okay.' The most surprising development of the night was his first interaction with Todoroki. Shouto, he learned, was stunted when it came to socializing. He seemed to almost lack emotion, and was quite blunt and tactless when he did speak. 'Endeavor always gave me the creeps, maybe being around him that much affects you.'

The kicker, however, was how Todoroki had reacted to his meal. He ate more of the soba than anyone else, and even fought Ashido for the last bowl. That was something he could use. His mother always taught him that someone's favorite food was a quick way into their heart.

Speaking of Ashido, the girl had come and offered to help him do the dishes after the meal. He wasn't one to turn down help, especially when it came from a girl like her. He was surprised that he didn't turn into a stuttering mess with her, but perhaps it was because of everything else that was on his mind. "Horn buddies, right?"

Her wide, cheerful grin rivaled his own. "Yep! It's the least I could do after you made such an amazing meal. Where did you learn to cook like that?"

Izuku chuckled as he scrubbed a plate. "My mom taught me. We spent a lot of time cooking together while I was growing up." He smiled fondly as he reminisced.

"Aww, she seems like a nice lady."

"She is. Maybe you can meet her one day." He was too distracted with his memories to realize what he was saying.

"You sure move fast, huh?" Ashido winked at him as she giggled, which caused him to sputter and begin to apologize profusely. "Calm down, dude, I was just teasing!" His flustered state only caused her to giggle harder

In his panic, he accidentally ran the plate he was cleaning under the running sink in a way that sprayed both of the students with water. Izuku caught the worst of it, nearly soaking his entire shirt through. Ashido caught some of the spray, leaving a large splotch right on the front of her white shirt.

They stood there for a few seconds in shock before they both started laughing.

Izuku glanced over and watched her lose it, doubling over at the sheer nonsense of it all, relishing the moment. 'It feels good to make her laugh, even if I made a fool of myself...'

Soon her giggles began to subside, and he noticed she was staring at him, eyes seemingly transfixed on the wet shirt hugging his chest tightly. He blushed a bit, but couldn't stop his own eyes from drifting down to where the water had made her shirt see-through.

'Oh wow, those are hug-'

A claw formed on his hand again as he mentally slapped himself and physically stabbed himself. Izuku hoped she didn't notice the small trickle of green on his leg.

Izuku and Ashido collected themselves and finished the rest of the dishes in a slightly awkward silence. He did his best to keep his eyes from glancing over at the woman next to him, and once they finished, he thanked her and quickly left. He opted to go to bed early that night, partially due to the physical exhaustion from his two separate workouts, but more due to the mental and emotional exhaustion of being surrounded by so many new and confusing people.

He collapsed in his bed and fell asleep quickly, despite his excitement for class beginning the next day. In some deep part of his brain, he was thankful that his sleep was dreamless. He didn't trust his mind right now. Hopefully, class would prove to be a good distraction from the two other distractions in his life right now.

He woke up at daybreak and for the first time in a while, he and Katsuki didn't work out. They had no idea what UA had in store for them, so they wanted to conserve their energy. Instead, he used his extra time to write in his notebook about the hero news from the previous day. Before he could finish up, he heard a knock at his door.

"Hey, Third Place, you up?"

Izuku sighed and opened the door. "Morning, Kacchan."

"Lips made breakfast. You're the only one not down already, you sleep in? Slacking off already?"

"Satou? And uh, no, I was just catching up in my notebook. Haven't had as much time the past two days."

Katsuki nodded a bit then turned away. "Hurry the hell up or I'm eating your plate."

Izuku shut his door and quickly changed out of his pajamas and into his new school uniform. He gazed at it for a while before he put it on, still not believing entirely that he was finally at UA. His uniform fit a bit snugly for his tastes. 'Maybe I bulked up a bit since I took my measurements?'

He straightened his tie and headed downstairs. Katsuki had spoken the truth; the other 19 students were already eating. He quickly made his way over to the kitchen area and grabbed the plate that Satou had left out for him. He was so hungry that he took a bite before he even went to go sit down. It was heavenly.

"Satou, I didn't know you could cook!" Izuku resisted cramming more pancake into his mouth before he spoke.

"Sure, I have a lot of practice because of how my quirk works." Satou gave him a thumbs up. "You like it? I'm usually better at desserts than more traditional meals, so I figured pancakes would be a good one to start with."

"Like it? It's great!" Izuku's willpower failed and he crammed another fluffy bite into his mouth and swallowed quickly. "I'm actually the opposite; I struggle with desserts and sweets. Maybe we could help each other out?" It was never too early to play the game.

Satou nodded. "Yeah, sounds like a plan. Thanks, Midoriya."

Izuku sat down at one of the tables with some of the other students, including Kirishima and Ashido. They were apparently talking about their quirks, as he caught the end of Ashido cheerfully explaining that she can secrete acid.

"Woah, really?" Izuku loved talking about quirks, and it was an added bonus that people usually liked talking about their own quirks, too. They especially liked it when he talked about how cool they were. "That's a great power. Can you control the potency?"

"Yep!" She was grinning widely at his interest, just as he suspected. "I can control the strength, viscosity and more." Her eyes narrowed slightly, staring at his head. "But hey, what about you? You haven't told me anything about you ! What's with your horns? Do they have something to do with your quirk? I bet they do!"

Izuku was taken aback by the sudden change of subject and her intensity, but he quickly recovered. "Do yours?" He deflected, not ready to reveal his quirk and heritage yet.

"Well, no, bu-"

"Class begins in 15 minutes!" Iida was standing at his seat, hand outstretched in a chopping motion. "We should all make our way to the classroom!"

Izuku was grateful for this distraction and took it as an opportunity to throw the rest of his breakfast down his throat and start walking to class, leaving Ashido's questions unanswered.

Izuku was over the moon. He was actually sitting in a classroom at UA, about to meet his homeroom teacher. He had dreamed about this moment for years and it was finally here. He was almost vibrating in his seat behind Katsuki. His friend found this irritating, judging from his glare, but Izuku didn't care at the moment.

The door opened and the girls entered, they had left a bit later than everyone else, and had apparently already started moving together as a group. Izuku wasn't surprised, it was always easier to socialize with people you had more in common with when you first met each other.

He watched as the girls took a look at the seating chart on the board at the front of the class and split up to their seats. Izuku almost chuckled at the seemingly-floating uniform of Hagakure as she sat down in front of Katsuki. He would get used to it, but for now, it was an amusing novelty. Yaoyorozu gave him a polite nod as she passed behind him to sit down. Mineta was between him and her, and Izuku felt himself tense up at the strange noise he made when Yaoyorozu passed by him.

Jirou took a seat just ahead and to the right of Midoriya, Tsunotori sat at the front of the row to her right, Kirishima sat two rows it Izuku's left, while the other three girls all had seats on the far-right row. Izuku's mind froze a bit as he glanced over them. In addition to the normal school uniform, Uraraka was wearing black leggings under her skirt. Izuku could only stare. 'Those legs... I think UA might actually kill me.'

After a while, Izuku noticed that she was staring at him too. And so was Iida. And so was everyone. Katsuki hit him upside the head. "Wake up, idiot!" Izuku looked around in panic and noticed a scruffy looking man wearing a long, gray scarf standing at the front of the room. He was staring expectantly at Izuku.

"Thank you for finally joining us, Midoriya." The man glared at him, voice sarcastic and bored. Apparently, Izuku had been staring for a long time. "As I was saying, my name is Shouta Aizawa. Your teacher."

Izuku tried to will the green blush away from his cheeks as the rest of the class finally stopped staring at him. 'Our teacher?' Izuku's mind began to race. 'Then he's a pro hero. I don't recognize him, maybe he's underground? Strange for him to be working at UA if that's the case.'

The man didn't wait for the murmuring to die down before he pulled out a blue and white gym uniform. "We're wasting time. Go down to the changing rooms, put these on and meet me outside. You have five minutes."

Uraraka raised her hand in protest. "But what about orien-"

"A waste of time." Aizawa cut her off and left without another word.

After a desperate scramble, the class made it outside with seconds to spare. Aizawa was standing in front of them, holding a small electronic device. "Here at UA, I am free to run my class as I see fit. I have four years to teach you how to become the heroes of our future, which means we don't have any time to waste on pointless ceremonies and traditions."

Aizawa turned to Uraraka. "Uraraka, you got first place on the entrance practical." The girl tensed up slightly at the attention. "What was your farthest softball throw in high school?"

"Um, I think it was about 72 meters, sir." She seemed uncomfortable being singled out.

"The Ministry of Education is still pretending that we are all born equal, instead of letting those who are capable excel. If I am going to properly teach you, I need to know where you stand right now. A series of eight physical challenges will give me a good baseline so I know each of your potentials. Since the previous results you have are without your quirks, they are useless."

He turned back to the girl. "Throw the ball as far as you can, using your quirk." He tossed the ball to her.

She caught it with both hands. "Um, are- are you sure?"

"You're wasting my time. Step into the circle and take your throw." He sounded bored, but thanks to his scarf, nobody saw the smirk on his face. He knew what she was going to do, only a fool of a teacher wouldn't read their forms and watch their performances at the entrance exam.

Uraraka walked up to the circle and turned back again, still unsure. Seeing Aizawa's dispassionate expression, she looked back to the ball. She had been holding it with her pinky off, but let the finger touch. A small flash of pink light accompanied that familiar feeling of the weight moving through her body. Once she felt it was at an appropriate weight, she simply opened her hand.

The ball shot skyward, being pushed up by the now-denser air surrounding it. The class all gasped as the ball kept floating higher and leaving their vision. Aizawa turned to the rest of the class and held up the device, which read 'infinity'. This caused further shouts and exclamations from the rest of the class.

"Wow…" Ashido was standing next to Midoriya, staring in awe at Uraraka's feat.

"Yeah…" Midoriya had seen her in action before, but it was still incredible.

They looked at each other in surprise, hearing the fondness in each other's voices. A slight lilac blush lit up Ashido's face as she smiled. Midoriya's green blush was more intense, and his smile was a little shakier.

Ashido blinked in surprise. 'He blushes green?!'

'She blushes blue?!'

"I am here to teach those who have the potential how to be a hero." Aizawa's eyes grew a crazed look in them. "I will be scoring and ranking each of your performances in the eight tests. I will declare the student with the lowest score to have no potential, and expel them on the spot."

His sick grin appeared over his scarf. "You all made it into UA, but you still need to prove to me that you belong here."

Aizawa outlined the eight events in order. A 50-meter dash, a grip-strength test, a standing long-jump, repeated side steps, the softball throw, sit-ups, sitting toe-touch and a long-distance run. The first event would be in pairs.

Just by luck, or by 'luck', Bakugou was paired up with Midoriya to go first. "You gonna hold back with all these extras around? Or are you gonna actually try and beat me?" Bakugou sneered as he spoke, challenging his friend.

Midoriya sighed, preparing himself. "No point hiding it anymore, I guess." He reached up and began to pull his shirt off. "Wouldn't want to give you too much of a handicap, Dandy." He wished he could have kept the secret for a little longer, but there was no helping it.

"Midoriya, what are you doing?" Aizawa knew full well what he was doing, but he wanted to hear how the boy would respond.

"Oh! I uh, I just don't want to destroy school property needlessly, sir." Midoriya had frozen mid-shirt-removal and responded with a slight bow of his head.

Aizawa shrugged; that answer was good enough for him. "Carry on."

Midoriya finished taking off his shirt and tossed it on the ground behind him, eliciting murmurs from the rest of the class watching. He turned half towards the students as he rotated and flexed his arms and shoulders, limbering himself up.

"Hey, Ashido!" He called back to the girl, who was staring at him, eyes wide. "Remember when you asked me why Stormclaw was my favorite hero?"

She nodded slowly. "...yeah?"

"Well, you see..." Midoriya's eyes began to glow slightly as scales formed across his shoulder blades. His wings sprouted out of his back shortly afterwards, quickly growing to their full size. The class gasped again as they unfurled. Midoriya grinned wide with pride.

"He's my dad."

Notes:

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