30

Ochako headed off to the locker room to change into her costume with her head swirling with emotions. She had just watched their new TA- who was smoking hot, by the way- sit on Deku's lap and begin petting him. Hadou pressed him into her- Ochako gulped- generous chest and began to pet him. And then he… he purred. Deku purred.

She didn't know how to handle it at the moment. Her ferocious, standing-up-to-a-supervillain boyfriend purred like a big, terrifying cat.

It was adorable.

Ochako shook her head. She was here to be a hero and if Deku's laughter was anything to go on, she wasn't in for an easy day. She pushed the thought of her boyfriend- she still couldn't get used to that- out of her mind.

She and the girls all changed quickly, chatting only sparsely as they all tried to focus. Deku and Bakugou's laughter had made them all nervous.

The quiet gave her time to think about something she had noticed over the short time she had been at UA, namely the fact that Pony didn't seem to ever change with them. The woman always ducked behind a set of lockers or hid somewhere when she changed. There wasn't anything wrong with that per se, but it was a little odd.

Mina seemed to notice it too. As the two of them walked out in their costumes, she spotted Ochako peering in concern at the American lagging behind them. "It's kinda weird, huh?" she asked in a low whisper.

Ochako nodded. "I hope she doesn't think we're gonna make fun of her or anything."

"I thought the whole 'body-shy American' thing was just a trope, but I guess not." Mina shrugged before growing a wide smile and pointing over at the group of students. "Hey, check it out," she whispered, " our boyfriend ."

Ochako blushed a little as she saw Deku standing at the entrance to the city, his muscular back expose-

Her blush fell away immediately as she caught sight of the scales covering his right shoulder. They didn't look like his normal scales, they looked… different. That was right where that monster's flames had struck him and Ochako knew he would have a scar there even with the best doctors his father could afford… but this was her first time seeing it.

Mina had noticed them too, her own mood dropping slightly as she looked in concern. The two women exchanged glances before they continued their approach.

Ochako made a move to greet Deku, but then she saw the look on his face. His mouth was opened slightly, his fangs elongated even more than normal as his eyes glowed. His horns were longer and she saw him breathing a little heavier. He looked intimidating and if she didn't know any better, a little scared. At least, she thought she knew better.

Bakugou soon joined him, a similar ultra-focused look on his face as well. The two men stared forward at the closed gate, neither speaking a word to each other.

Their energy spread to the rest of the class, who grew their own looks of determination mixed with trepidation. Two of the most competent and skilled members of their class looking so grim was doing nobody's confidence very many favors.

The gate opened slowly, the two doors sliding with a great mechanical noise to reveal All Might and Hadou standing there, each bearing wide, but very different smiles.

Ochako got her first look at the woman's hero costume. It was a skin-tight white, mint and blue suit with strange twisting cuffs over the yellow gauntlets that covered her forearm. Two locks of hair were styled up like a pair of blue, spiraled horns. 'Is that why Bakugou calls her Spirals?'

"Ochako."

'She's really pretty.' Ochako admired the way her white pupils played off her blue eyes. And those 'horns' of hers.

"Ocha-" Mina elbowed her. "Ochako, you're staring. "

Ochako shook her head and remembered where she was. She glanced down at Mina in embarrassment, who was wearing a look of incredulity and interest.

"Hiii!" Hadou yelled, waving wildly as the doors opened fully. "Wow, I love your costumes! Bakugou, those gauntlets are so cool!"

The man didn't respond, instead just continuing to glare.

Kaminari looked back and forth between the TA and his classmate. "Bakubro, aren't you taking this a little seriously?"

"She seems really nice," Tooru bubbled, "why you gotta be so intense?"

"None of you are ready for this," Deku suddenly growled. "Hadou isn't one of the Big Three because she's nice."

"I told you to call me Nejire, Greenhorn!"

"Alright, students!" All Might interrupted. "Follow us, your day is just beginning!"

The class followed their two instructors deeper into the city until they came to a large intersection. The whole time, Deku and Bakugou were glaring, focusing and psyching themselves up. It was bizarre to see them getting so worked up about the shorter, bouncy woman who was sometimes literally skipping alongside All Might in front of them.

"Here we are!" All Might declared as he brought the group to a stop. "Hadou, are you ready?"

"Yes, sir!" she declared proudly. All Might laughed and walked over to the edge of the intersection, planting himself on a fake car, denting the metal slightly just with his weight.

Hadou turned to the rest of the class. "Welcome to training! We're gonna start with some sparring so you guys can get an idea of where you are and how much further you have to go!"

"This is what I'm talkin about!" Eiko yelled in response, pumping her first. "Who's first?"

Hadou giggled. "All of you, of course!"

"Wait, at once?" Satou asked incredulously.

She nodded. "Ayup!"

Eiko looked like she was about to say something a little confident, but a sideways glance at Deku stopped her tongue. She instead dropped into a combat stance and hardened her arms, causing Hadou to lower herself slightly as well.

The TA was about twenty meters in front of them, smiling slightly less wide than she had been while the rest of Ochako's class prepared themselves. She watched her boyfriend grow scales over his body, sprout wings, flex his claws and bare his fangs. Even with how high of an opinion Deku had of Hadou, Ochako still felt a little bad about a 20-on-1 fight.

Bright yellow energy began to form around her hands, twisting around her gauntlets.

'Is that why Bakugou calls her Spirals?'

"Ready when you are!" Hadou called, her expression faltering slightly as she focused.

Deku bent down and kicked off with all his might, streaking into the air as Bakugou let off a massive downward explosion and forced himself skyward as well. The brawlers in the class- Eiko, Ochako, Satou and the rest- began to run towards the woman as the skirmishers like Aoyama and Kyouka stood back.

She whipped her hands forward as a massive, twisting vortex of energy came blasting towards them.

Ochako's eyes went wide.

'THAT'S why Bakugou calls her Spirals!'

As soon as Hadou gave the go-ahead, Izuku took to the air, hoping to avoid her Wave Motion. Her yellow energy surged forward only a few seconds later, crashing into the mass of students and knocking most of them back. He spared a glance back, noting with a degree of pride that Kirishima had endured the blast and that Ochako had dodged out of the way.

'Dodge' may have been a generous term, as what really happened is she removed her mass and leapt to the side, tripping and falling over a bench on the sidewalk. She was pulling herself up, a look of determination growing on her face.

Izuku refocused, turning his vision back on Hadou.

"Izuku!" he heard a voice above him call.

"On it!" he returned, swooping to his right and snatching Katsuki out of mid-air.

Katsuki smirked as he hung onto Izuku's back. "I'm real fucking glad we practiced that so much."

"I wouldn't drop you, come on," Izuku retorted, making sure his friend was secure before turning back onto their opponent.

"Nice and low," Katsuki muttered, small pops bursting from his hand. "Give me a clear bombing run."

Izuku beat his wings, picking up speed and soaring past Hadou. They didn't have much of a chance against her, he knew, but he should use his classmates to his advantage. Her blind spot might give them the edge.

Hadou sent another blast forward, knocking another half dozen students out as they were overwhelmed by the blast. Those that were still standing- less than half at this point- where spread out. A wise decision, if you asked Izuku.

Mina was taken out in that wave and Izuku held his breath as she hit the ground and groaned in pain. He expected his quirk to flare up with anger, but nothing happened. He let his breath out, sighing in relief as he realized his quirk wasn't going to get upset with good-natured sparring. He had been doing that with Katsuki for years, but now he had girlfriends; this was a whole new world he had to learn how to navigate.

Ochako, Kirishima and Satou came rushing at the woman from three sides, hoping to get close. Predictably, at least if you were Izuku, Hadou kicked off and took to the skies, small pulses of energy from her feet keeping her airborne.

"She can fly?!" Kirishima yelled in disbelief.

Hadou flipped herself upside down about ten feet above the ground, pointing both of her hands down as she unleashed a monsterous blast of energy, knocking the three students back and leaving them groaning on the ground. At speeds that Izuku hoped to one day achieve, Hadou streaked around the battlefield like a pastel missile, strafing over the remaining students and sending them all tumbling down. Even Todoroki's massive ice wall wasn't quick enough to stop her attack.

Hadou had them completely outmatched.

She turned around, locking eyes with the only two remaining students for a moment before tearing towards them.

Izuku beat his wings hard and shot towards her as fast as he could, but right before they collided, he spread his wings wide and flipped upside down, swooping over and behind the woman with his explosive passenger. With a roar, Katsuki pushed his hands together and began to prepare his attack. Like a well oiled machine, Izuku brought his wings in to give his friend a clear shot and to avoid jostling his aim. He pushed the quirk to harden his scales and utilizing a trick he had discovered a few years ago.

He let his quirk slip a little in his head, closing up the small holes there, while keeping his quirk flowing around his head, keeping his ears from reforming. Izuku was now essentially deaf. It was disorienting, but that's what he wanted; he didn't have Katsuki's quirk adaptation in his ears, after all.

"Fire!" he shouted, silent to nobody but himself.

A massive explosion ripped through the air, shaking his teeth and jerking the two men backwards violently.

Izuku let his ears open back up, sound rushing back into his consciousness as he righted himself and beat his wings. "Did you get her?"

"Hell if I know!" his friend yelled back. "You know how slippery Spirals is!"

Izuku scanned around, pushing his quirk a little harder to try and detect the nimble woman undoubtedly soaring around him.

Suddenly, he was struck by a thought. He remembered Jirou's training, as limited as it was, and shut out the rest of his senses. He focused his energy and his quirk on his hearing, straining for a sign.

He found it. Fainter than anything he had ever heard before, but he found it.

With a sudden beat of his wings, he shot upward right as Hadou streaked beneath him, her foot extended.

"Ooh, good one, Greenhorn!" she called up. "I was hoping you'd learned something in the year I was gone!"

Izuku wasted no time diving toward her, his claws out in front of him.

Hadou whipped around and soared above him faster than he could react. "Alright, you've had your fun. I learned stuff in the past year too!"

Izuku and Katsuki both cried out as they were blasted with her twisting energy, pushing them towards the ground with irresistible force. The two men slammed into the earth, Katsuki still on his back, leaving a small crater beneath them.

It hadn't even been thirty seconds since they started.

"POWER!!!" Hadou yelled loudly as she landed gently next to them. He heard her hop up and down a little bit and giggle. "Mirio is right, that is fun!"

After a few seconds, Katsuki rolled off of him and onto his back, groaning as he tried to move. Izuku panted as he pushed himself up, only to feel himself being held down by a forceful foot on his back. "Do you really wanna get back up?" Hadou asked. "We're just sparring; don't hurt yourself, Greenhorn."

Izuku stopped pushing.

"Now let your quirk go, you've got a long day ahead of you." Her voice was calm and relaxing, full of concern but still firm.

He hesitated for a second before finally letting his quirk go, the beating having dulled its pressure a little. Deep down, Izuku was a little proud with how well he had handled his quirk.

Izuku froze up slightly as he almost forgot to keep his quirk working around his right shoulder. He had almost exposed th-

"What're you waiting for?" Hadou asked curiously. "Wait," she added in a hushed tone as he suddenly found her closer, rubbing her fingers along his scarred scales. "Are you worried about this?"

He didn't say anything.

She leaned in even closer to his ear, speaking softly. "Greenhorn, you can't get hung up on this. Being a hero means putting your entire heart and mind into it. Let. It. Go." She emphasized each word with a small pet of his horns.

Izuku gulped. Hadou was right.

He nodded against the ground and let his quirk fade fully, his retreating scales exposing his scarred shoulder.

Hadou leaned back. "There you go." She reached her hands down and pulled both of the men to their feet. "Good job, both of you. You make me proud! But Greenhorn, why didn't you use your breath? Are you still worried about that, too?"

Izuku nodded sadly and glanced over at his classmates. "I don't want them to think poorly of me. Poison is just so..."

She put a hand on his chest, looking up at him. "Hey now, you're never going to get past that if you don't practice. You gotta use it sooner or later, or you're just hampering yourself. What did I just say? You gotta give this your all if you wanna succeed."

Katsuki groaned slightly as he straightened up. "Listen to Spirals."

Izuku looked between the two of them once before lowering his head. "You're right. I'll… I'll try."

"Good!" She smiled widely and then jogged off to where All Might was gathering the rest of the students.

Katsuki clapped him on the back gently as they shuffled towards their classmates. "She's always had a way with you," he muttered, stretching his bruised arm.

Izuku rubbed a sore spot on his chest. "Yeah... I guess she has."

"So, did you have fun?" Hadou asked the bruised and beaten students.

"We barely got to do anything!" Mina complained from her spot next to Ochako.

"You were on a totally different level," Kaminari added. "We didn't stand a chance against someone with an awesome quirk like yours!"

"Yeah," Kyouka followed, "my quirk's nothing compared to yours."

Ochako felt a little indignation bubble up inside her chest. 'Don't say that, Kyouka…'

Hadou clapped her hands once. "Hey now, none of that! You all have super amazing quirks! Each of you can do things that I can't!" She pointed a finger into the air proudly. "Besides, did you know that the top student at UA was dead last in the entire class his first year because of how weak his quirk was?"

The students stopped their moaning to listen.

"Yup, it's true!" Hadou continued. "He honestly doesn't even know how he got into the hero course his first year! But he trained, he pushed himself and he kept at it! He put his entire heart, body and mind into his goals and now he's the number one!"

All Might nodded. "Young Togata is a truly exceptional student now. He's closer to taking my spot at the top of the leaderboard than most pros I know!"

The class gasped at the man's praise. 'How good are the Big Three?' Ochako wondered.

Hadou pointed her finger over the students. "So what I'm saying is that don't take this defeat as a setback, but as a reminder just how far you have to go! Set your sights on not letting that happen again and strive for it with all your heart!"

The class began to murmur in approval and a few of them even cheered, Mina included.

"A defeat is one thing," Sero muttered after the noise died down, "but it was like she knew our quirks. She flew literal circles around us."

"That's because I did!" Hadou chirped.

The class whipped their heads around. Mineta shook his fist. "What?! That's cheating! We didn't know your quirk!"

"Think about it, Young Mineta," All Might began. "If you become a pro, especially a popular one, villains will know your quirk, while you often won't know theirs. Adaptation and quick thinking are vital skills for a hero."

Bakugou huffed. "Besides, Izuku and I knew and we still got trounced."

"Hey, that's right!" Mineta cried out. "Why didn't you tell us?!"

Deku shot the small man a piercing look, causing him to falter slightly. "Did you not hear All Might? Telling you anything would have hampered your development. It's my job as class rep to make sure you all grow into the best heroes you can be."

Mina and Ochako exchanged knowing looks. 'Not a bad cover story for him improving his 'hoard', I guess,' the taller woman thought.

"Alright, break time is over!" Hadou shouted. "We've got the next five days together and I'm not wasting any of it! I'm gonna be pairing each of you up with someone else each day and you're gonna spend the entire day sparring and training! All Might and I will go around, offering advice, giving tips and making sure that you're not slacking!" She floated a few feet off the ground as she pumped her fist. "It's time to go Plus Ultra!"

The students looked around with trepidation. Hell Week had only just begun.

"Alright, first off…" Hadou pointed her finger around the group. "Bakugou, you're with Asui. Go find a spot to face off." Tsu hopped over to the blonde, who gave her an appraising look before heading down one of the streets with the woman following.

"Jirou, you're with Satou." The two students nodded and walked off.

"Greenhorn, I'm pairing you up with Kirishima."

"Psh, same," Mina whispered from Ochako's side.

" Mina! " Ochako hissed. "You can't say that!"

Mina shot a completely serious look up at her. "Why not? Just look at them. You can't tell me they don't look adorable together." She pointed to their right, where Deku and Eiko were meeting.

Eiko beamed up at the taller man, both of their faces full of confidence and excitement. Deku's eyes were kind, but she could tell he wasn't messing around.

Ochako looked back to Mina and then away. "Th-that's not the point…"

"Ashido, Yaoyorozu, get to it!"

Mina nodded and walked away, raising her eyebrows a few times at Ochako.

"Shouji, go with Uraraka."

Ochako nodded, looking at the taller man who was glancing back at her. They headed down another road, putting some space between them and the rest of the class as they got to work.

Hadou hadn't become any easier of a trainer from her time in America; she had spent the last two hours flying around, making sure everyone was pushing themselves 'appropriately'. Which to her, meant very hard. Hadou's concept of 'Plus Ultra' was a few steps further than most, which Izuku knew all too well.

That knowledge kept him pushing harder than most, which made him all the more grateful that he was paired up with Kirishima. The woman matched his energy pound-for-pound. There was absolutely no quit to be found in her.

He admired that.

After their lunch break, which Izuku spent napping after his quick meal, Kirishima turned to him with a grin.

"Aniki, I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

Izuku paused, looking over to the shorter woman.

"Wait, wait," she interrupted him before he could speak. "I worry what you just heard was 'hit me really hard.' What I said was ' hit me as hard as you can'. " She paused, looking him in the eyes. "Do you understand?"

Izuku nodded slowly.

She turned away and walked a few paces from him down the city street. "Alright, ready when you are." She hardened herself, prepared for his hit.

Izuku threw his quirk into his right arm, growing it to a huge size and swinging it forward with a grunt of effort.

His fist impacted the woman's crossed arms, sending her skidding back a few feet.

"You weren't listening, Aniki!" she shouted back. "I know you've got more than that!"

He nodded, snarling a little as he poured more of his quirk into his right arm. He had to push a little more into his legs and other arm to keep his balance as he swung forward again, his fist sending Kirishima back several meters.

"Why are you holding back?" Her tone was goading, but he could feel a hint of hurt beneath it.

He gulped.

The question now was… did Izuku trust his quirk? Did he trust himself? Did he trust her?

He closed his eyes and breathed.

She wants a test.

'I'm here to push her.'

She deserves the chance.

'I can do this. She can do this.'

His eyes flew back open as he glared at his partner.

'Alright! Everything I've got!'

Izuku's quirk burst forth in a way he hadn't felt since the USJ. His eyes exploded with light as he bared his teeth and felt his body bulge with his quirk's power. His right arm surged , growing to the size of the rest of his body but not stopping there. If he had to guess, his arm was over four meters long, it's entire length bulging with muscle.

The claws in his left arm dug into the concrete road to give him leverage as he swung his titanic limb forward, his fist smashing into the woman as he let out a primal roar.

That time, Kirishima got what she wanted.

The woman was sent flying backwards at a speed he couldn't follow with his eyes; his only indication of her location was the sound of smashed concrete as she slammed into a building behind her.

His quirk snapped away as his face twisted into a horrified expression. The entire front half of the building had cracked and collapsed, sending three stories of rubble crashing down onto Kirishima.

He dashed forward, his quirk unconsciously pushing back into his legs as he willed himself forward as fast as possible.

"Kirishima!" Izuku yelled in panic, reaching down to grab a piece of concrete to begin digging out the massive pile of rock and rebar.

His head snapped to his left as he noticed some of the rubble stir.

"YEAAAAH!!!"

Suddenly, Kirishima burst forth from the wreckage, her arms thrust in the sky as she yelled a triumphant battle cry.

"That's what I'm talking about!" She pumped her fist as she shot a manic grin at Izuku. He noticed some cracks in her hardening, but for what he had done to her, she hardly looked any worse for wear. She pulled her legs from the rocks and let her quirk fade, her cracks becoming small cuts and scrapes on her as she rushed over to Izuku and threw her arms around him, lifting him up slightly as she cheered. "That was awesome!"

Izuku's mouth dropped open, his disbelief outclassed only by his swelling pride in his friend. Something about her arms around him made him feel…

He felt his quirk pulse slightly in the back of his mind.

Mine.

'Ah, crap.'

"Hey!"

Izuku whipped his head up to see Hadou flying above them.

"What did you do, Greenhorn?"

"I uh," he looked down at the red-haired woman who had let him go and was now standing next to him, beaming. "I punched Kirishima into a building."

Hadou paused for a moment, looking to the rubble and then to the students. "It looks like you punched her through a building."

"I asked for it!" Kirishima added, waving at Hadou. "I wanted to test our limits!"

Hadou beamed down at the two of them. "Hey, that's the spirit! Hmm… Can you do it again?"

Izuku hesitated as Kirishima put him down. "Uh… maybe?"

Hadou understood. "Take five then try again!" She waved and flew off.

Izuku flopped down on a piece of rubble, letting his shoulders slump as he relaxed.

Kirishima sat down next to him, only a few inches between them. "A whole week of this, huh? Well, Aniki, UA doesn't disappoint, huh?"

"No joke," Izuku agreed as he took a drink of water from his bottle. "But uh, hey, why 'Aniki'?"

"Oh." Kirishima grew the smallest amount of blush, something Izuku had scarcely seen before. "Well, it's kinda like how Americans use 'bro', you know?"

Izuku laughed dryly. "Yeah, I know."

"Heh, yeah, so it's well…" She trailed off, rubbing the back of her head. She looked like she was psyching herself up a little. "I look up to you, man. You saved my- all of our lives at the USJ. You stood up to that bastard and I can't be grateful enough. So now you're my Aniki, my bro. You protected me and I'm making it my goal to protect you too. You and everyone else." She looked down at her hand and hardened it. "My quirk… is made for that. I'm gonna be your wall, Iz- er, I mean Midoriya. Sorry."

Once again, he felt his quirk pulse softly.

She wants to get closer to me. Good.

Izuku hesitated, thinking about his girlfriends, about Tsuyu, about Pony. He took a deep breath and looked down at Kirishima, who was glancing up at him.

"It's fine, E-Eiko."

Her eyes went wide for a moment before a smile nearly exploded off her face, her sharp teeth baring themselves brightly. "Thanks, Izuku."

His eyes flashed faintly.

The two of them smiled at each other widely and chatted for the rest of their break before standing back up and squaring off again.

"Come at me, Aniki."

Izuku smirked. "Get ready, Eiko."

Izuku was exhausted after class ended, just like he was every time he trained with Hadou, but most of the other students had never been pushed like they had been that day. There was barely a word spoken on their entire walk back to the locker room and their dorms. The showers were silent apart from the water as Izuku and his classmates let the heat soak into their bodies.

Dinner was prepared for them, mercifully. All Might and Hadou brought in food from Lunch Rush himself and Izuku didn't know if he had ever seen his classmates eat that fast before. It was impressive, none more so than Yaoyorozu, who seemed to be inhaling food faster than anyone else, even Satou or Izuku. He actually paused and watched her closely.

'Now that I look… does she look skinnier?' The dense muscles Izuku had felt in the hospital were easily visible on her arms and her uniform was definitely looser than normal, especially around her…

Izuku finished his food slower, trying to stealthily watch Yaoyorozu eat. Everyone was so tired that nobody noticed him and she was so tired that she had forgone her normally refined eating habits. Fortunately, either nobody noticed, or nobody cared.

Over the next ten minutes, she ate more than the rest of her table combined, but that wasn't the most incredible part. Izuku watched as he literally saw the woman grow. Her arms gradually swelled, her muscles fading underneath her growing mass and her body filling out all over. Her shirt grew tighter- much tighter.

Izuku averted his gaze as his face began to turn green. As he regained his brain function, he felt sick. He had two beautiful girlfriends after all, he shouldn't be looking at the other women in the class. 'Stupid quirk…'

He excused himself, hurrying up to his room to try and get some rest.

Izuku threw off his clothes and changed into his pajamas before flopping onto his bed. Comforted by his little 'lair' in the dorms, he was able to think a little better.

He went back to his punch again; the one that had crashed Eiko through a building. That wasn't what he was focusing on, though. No, rather he was focusing on what had happened directly before that.

'Alright! Everything I've got!'

He had done it again. He had worked with his quirk seamlessly. The only other time that had happened… was at the USJ. Against Terrorflame.

And just like it had back there, it had given him power he didn't know he had. That punch he threw was beyond anything he had ever done before… it scared him, in a way, but it also thrilled him. If he could learn how to master that, he co-

A knock at his door.

Izuku furrowed his brow. 'Who could that be?' He stood up and walked over to his door, opening it to find Mina and Ochako in their pajamas. "Whatcha need?" he yawned.

"Uh…" The two women looked at each other awkwardly.

Izuku blinked. "Oh right, we're dating." He turned around as Mina slapped her forehead. "I still can't believe it…"

"I get it," Ochako added, yawning herself as Izuku sat on his bed. "I'm barely standing too. Shouji is no joke."

Izuku perked up slightly. "Oh yeah, how did that g-"

His question stopped as Ochako began gently petting his horns. "Shh, I'll tell you about it later." She turned to Mina with a smile. "You were in the middle last night, so it's my turn, but I want Deku to be in the middle again for… reasons."

Mina smirked as she sat down on Izuku's other side, beginning to slowly pet his other horn. "Oh, I understand," she whispered as Izuku's eyes fluttered and closed, his eyes rolling up into his head..

He weakly tried to resist, but the sensation was too great.

His 'purring' began again, rumbling up from deep inside him as he fell backwards onto his bed, the two women coming with him.

Izuku didn't know how long they kept petting him, as everything started to blend together. He vaguely remembered a weightless sensation as Ochako floated him up and put him under the covers and the feeling of a kiss being planted on each of his cheeks; otherwise, all he could remember was the soothing, unbelievably relaxing sensation of the women petting his horns until he drifted off to sleep.

The rest of the week passed in an exhausted blur. Izuku was teamed up with Satou the next day, both of them focusing on refining and enhancing their strength. All Might personally supervised their weight training, something that Izuku had dreamed of since he was a kid. It was all he could do to keep himself from actually squealing.

Thursday he spent at the pool with Tsuyu. She was a master in the water, swimming circles around him for the most part. By the end of the day, he had closed the gap somewhat, after taking her advice to heart. He still had a lot to learn, so at the end of the day as they were drying off, he asked if she wanted to keep training like this regularly.

She looked at him for a few moments. "I'd like that," was her simple response.

Izuku smiled wide. "Thanks, Tsu. I'm looking forward to it."

Tsuyu stared for a few more moments, her eyes tracing over his horns and his fangs. Izuku felt a little awkward beneath her gaze as she blinked a few times. She put her finger to her chin and tipped her head slightly. "You're hot."

Izuku dropped his water bottle and stared at the ground with wide eyes.

She tilted her head a little further, blinking with her big eyes. For some reason, her gaze felt much different now, like she was appraising him or trying to analyze him. He felt his face begin to turn green.

"You wouldn't mind if I called you 'Izuchan', would you?" she asked flatly.

Izuku's eyes glowed slightly as his mouth fell open, but no sound escaped him.

Tsuyu stood up calmly and walked to her locker room. "I'll see you at dinner, Izuchan."

Izuku sat there for a few more minutes, trying to process getting blindsided by Tsuyu like that. He had always prided himself on being fairly socially well-adjusted and suave, but he was becoming acutely aware just how inexperienced with women he was. He pulled himself up and walked off to change out of his suit as well, muttering theories about his quirk.

Friday was, thankfully, calmer, at least on that front. He and Shouji spent the day sparring and trying to push their transformations as far as they could. The two of them found a surprisingly large amount of common ground between them and shared tips about how they used their quirks. Izuku, of course, didn't mention anything about his instincts.

Saturday was the day he had been waiting for all week. "Greenhorn, you and Bakugou do what you do best," was all Hadou had to say for the two men to smirk, even with how tired they were. It had been a while since he and Katsuki got the opportunity to spend all day sparring and training.

Izuku and Katsuki wound up having to go see Recovery Girl by the end of the day, something that shouldn't have surprised anyone. The festival was only two days away and they were more eager than ever to be at their best. The two men were barely standing as they entered the droms, each leaning a little on the other to keep upright.

After Hadou and All Might delivered their last catered dinner, Aizawa entered and called for their attention through his bandages.

"You survived Hell Week, good work," he began, causing some of the students to make faint noises of happiness. "It only gets harder from here, so don't get complacent, but you should all take tomorrow to rest before the festival."

Izuku nodded. Rest sounded nice.

"Oh, and Uraraka," he muttered, causing the tall woman to look at him with worried eyes. "Don't forget, you got first place in the entrance exam, which means you're giving the opening speech for your entire class."

Izuku's vision snapped to his girlfriend, who looked like she had just seen a ghost. Or twenty.

Aizawa waved his arm casually as he turned to the door.

"That's all. Good luck on Monday."

Notes:

See you guys next time for the start of the Sports Festival!