13

Chapter 13: Risk and Reward Summary:

Izuku sees his classmates again...but this time they know he's quirkless.

Notes:

Here's some amazing fanart from Whirl.

Also, I'm starting a new job, so there's a good chance that my update schedule will be up in the air for a few weeks until I get settled into a new routine. I'll still try to get chapters out frequently, but we'll see how things go. Thanks for being understanding!

Chapter Text

Izuku intentionally left later than he should have for school so that he wouldn't have to deal with his classmates which was worth the risk of running into Katsuki on the train. He honestly wasn't planning on being as late as he was, but when he reached the station, he caught sight of Katsuki already waiting for the train. Luckily, he was facing the other way so he hadn't seen Izuku yet and he was able to hide around the corner until the train left. It meant that Izuku had to wait for the next train, but he wouldn't have to deal with an angry Katsuki, so it was all good. 

As it was, Izuku ended up sliding into the little desk outside his workroom right as the bell rang. Mei was sending him the stink eye, but he resolutely ignored her as Powerloader walked to the front of the room. He knew she was just trying to do what she thought was best for him, but she'd never had to deal with being quirkless before. 

"Alright class, settle down." Powerloader said. "Welcome to the support course! Today, you're going to be deciding on and starting your semester projects. These have to be approved by me, and I'll also be looking over them as you work to evaluate your progress and help you improve. I would personally recommend choosing a project that you would be able to use in the sports festival, since you're allowed to bring any support items you want, as long as you made them yourself. It's still a ways away, but it can sneak up on you if you're not careful."

Izuku thought back to the project that the principal had given him. It wasn't an invention, but knowing all the first year hero students' quirks would give him an edge that nobody else would have, so maybe that was why Nedzu assigned him to analyze their quirks. He should try to give each of the students a few suggestions before the sports festival as well, to help them do well. He glanced over at Mei, who was already messing with the materials on her desk in excitement. Choosing just one project would be difficult for her.

Powerloader called his attention back to the front of the room, "You are also allowed to work on other projects for extra credit, if you want. These have to be approved by me just the same as if they were official projects, they just don't have to go as in depth. I will be right up here if you have any questions or want to get your project approved, so don't hesitate to ask."

With that, he sat back down and left them to their work. Izuku immediately bolted into his room so Mei couldn't try to force him to make friends and closed the door behind him with a sigh. Immediately, his attention was grabbed by a non-descript post-it note stuck to the central screen of his computer. Izuku approached it hesitantly, fully expecting some hatred-filled death threat. It wouldn't be the first time, though his desk this morning had been notably clear of graffiti, which was a pleasant surprise. Though maybe Mei had just scared them out of doing something that obvious. Izuku hadn't ever had someone who was willing to protect him like that before. 

Izuku didn't even notice himself clenching his eyes shut as he sntached the note off the screen and had to force himself to take a peek, only for his eyes to widen in shock and relief as he realized that the note was actually from Nedzu, not his classmates. 

Midoriya,

Here's the password to the camera systems!

Ra+_0verlord

Burn this note. 

Nedzu

;)

Izuku read it twice until he was sure that he would be able to remember the password before looking around. Did his room have matches? He checked all the drawers and found every office supply he never knew he needed, but nothing that would allow him to burn the note as instructed. He couldn't just tear it up! Someone could potentially reassemble it and gain access to the cameras and it would all be Izuku's fault and then…

His spiral stopped when he happened to glance out his window and notice Mei hard at work. She made so many things explode that she had to have something capable of burning a tiny piece of paper...right?

But if he asked for her help, she might force him to confront their classmates, unless, of course, she was so distracted with her inventing that she completely forgot about her self-declared side quest. Izuku bit his lip and watched her for another long moment before deciding that it was a safe enough bet. 

The noise hit him immediately as soon as he opened the door. Almost everyone was working on something and the happy sounds of drills and power tools seemed to come from every direction as he walked toward Mei's table. 

"Mei-chan, Nedzu gave me this note and asked me to burn it. Do you have something that'd be able to take care of it?"

Mei whipped her head around to face him and he leaned back as the crosshairs in her eyes narrowed before she gave him a manic grin, "Oooh! A note-burning baby? I can make one!"

She reached for the note, but Izuku held it out of her reach, "Actually, Mei-chan, I was hoping for something a little faster."

Mei pouted, "You're no fun, Izu-kun."

"Nope." Izuku agreed, "Now, are you gonna help me, or not?"

Mei glared at him for another moment before sighing and turning on her blowtorch. Izuku smiled brightly at her as he lit the corner of the note on fire and let it burn for a few seconds before dropping it onto the floor and stomping out the flames once the note had completely turned to ash. Their classmates seemed to be giving them a wide berth as they watched the exchange, but that was just fine by him.

"Thanks, Mei-chan! Good luck on your project!" Izuku started to walk back to his room, but was stopped in his tracks by Mei grabbing his arm.

"Oh no you don't." Mei's grip tightened slightly as she grinned savagely. "Izuku Hacker Midoriya, you are going to talk to your classmates if it kills you!"

Izuku was honestly convinced that it might, "You're my friend, Mei! Shouldn't you be trying to keep me alive?"

"Oh, shut up, you're not gonna die." Mei waved the hand that wasn't holding Izuku hostage dismissively. "Now, everybody, listen up! This idiot think that you're all gonna hate him just because he was born with an extra toe-joint or whatever, so he needs you to beat it through his thick skull that not everybody is like his old stupid bullies!"

Izuku hid his face in his hands and groaned as it turned red. It wasn't a safe bet. Well, at least he'd successfully burned the note and he could deal with all of his classmates' rejections at once. Small mercies, right?

He prepared himself for the worst when he heard Kohaku scoff, "You're fucking kidding, right?" Izuku uncovered his face to find her looking extremely unimpressed, "If we're gonna hate you, it'll be because of something you did, loser."

Izuku blinked a few times and flinched as someone patted his shoulder heavily. He looked up to see Hanzou grinning at him, something that was really intimidating, considering his three rows of sharp teeth, "Yeah, dude, rejecting someone based on a quirk is totally uncool."

Izuku's eyes widened and he glanced over the rest of the class, looking for any sign that they disagreed with what the other two had said. Most of his classmates just looked like they didn't care either way, which hadn't ever happened before, and the only one who didn't look bored with the whole thing was Shiguro, who was currently trembling, "Um...being quirkless doesn't make you any less terrifying, Midoriya."

Mei gave a shocked laugh and Izuku's jaw dropped, "I, uh...what? I'm not that scary, am I?"

Kohaku rolled her eyes, "Yeah, and my hair's not a pain to brush. You caught the attention of Principal Nedzu, Midoriya. Of course you're scary!"

Powerloader cleared his throat and the class all turned to him, "Midoriya, UA has a zero tolerance policy toward bullying and discrimination. You shouldn't have to worry about that, and if anyone gives you a hard time because of your quirk, you are more than welcome to report that to me or to Nedzu."

"And I won't get in trouble?" Izuku asked, now reeling from shock. This all seemed like a dream. A good dream! But still a dream. 

He clamped his mouth shut when he noticed the heavy silence that had blanketed the room in a stark contrast to the happy sounds of working that had greeted him when he'd first left his room. His classmates were staring at him with various expressions of disbelief, shock, and even anger.

"You used to get in trouble for reporting discrimination?!" Kahaku asked. "What the fuck?!"

"Well, it's just that every school has a zero bullying policy," Izuku hurried to explain, "but most teachers tend to think that it's not a big deal. Or, not big enough to get a promising student in trouble for, but then something has to be done about the complaint and someone has to be punished, so...yeah."

"You don't have to worry about that anymore." Powerloader said firmly. "We actually follow our policies here. We couldn't call ourselves heroes if we didn't even protect our students from each other."

"Thank you so much, goodbye!" Izuku held hurriedly and rushed back into his room and slammed the door, wiping at his eyes furiously the moment he was out of sight. They really wouldn't let him get bullied? It just seemed so surreal! He couldn't resist the urge to pinch his arm to make sure that he hadn't just overslept somehow, but even though he pinched his arm hard enough to make the skin turn red, he was still at UA, staring at his private room with a setup of computers that the principal had personally set up. This was really real.

After a minute or so, Izuku took a deep breath to steady himself and sat down at his computer. If UA was going to do so much to help him, the least he could do was become an analyst they could be proud of, starting with his assignment from Nedzu.

Analyzing the hero course first years.