Chapter Text
Hawks hadn’t come home that night.
Logically, Izuku knew this wasn’t uncommon, as his brother was a Pro Hero and the Number Three on the board. He had overnight missions all the time. That didn’t ease his nerves in the slightest though, as he waited awake for Keigo to text him. He ALWAYS texted him good night, even if he was working late. He bit his lip, looking at the timestamp of their last texts. Keigo had last texted him 6 hours ago, reminding him about the entrance exam time and checking in with him.
He wondered what was happening with his brother to make him miss his good night text. Had he been captured? Maybe he was caught up in a fight right now? No- Izuku would have seen something on the news if there was a fight- Maybe he was caught up with the Hero Commission? Izuku scowled at that thought. He hated that god damn failure of a commission more than he hated himself. He hoped that wasn’t the case.
Maybe Keigo had finally gotten sick of him? Gotten tired of how clingy he was and given up? The thought hurt, but he had to admit that it wasn’t off the table- Not with how he had been treated.
Izuku didn’t even notice how small tremors had begun to erupt in his distress, nor how the door opened and a furious looking Katsuki came through it.
“What the fuck Deku?? I leave for ten fucking minutes to brush my teeth and you’re already fucking up the-!!”
“Keigo hasn’t texted me goodnight-” Izuku interrupted, sniffling softly.
Katsuki stopped his tangent, his face relaxing in the slightest as he looked down at Izuku. Izuku was sitting on the edge of Katsuki’s bed, knees curled up to his chest as he held his phone up to his face. He looked so small, and for a second, Katsuki was 4 years old again, listening to Izuku cry over his quirkless diagnosis. Luckily, he hadn’t started crying yet, but Katsuki knew that he would soon if he didn’t do something about this quickly.
He sighed, marching over to the bed and tackling Izuku onto it. Izuku let out a shriek of surprise, the tremors stopping. Katsuki ignored him, instead pulling him up so he was in Katsuki’s arms as he laid back.
“Stop your whining and go to sleep. We’ll wake up early to check on him. But you better sleep, otherwise I’m not letting you go to the exam.”
“Kaachan-!”
“Don’t Kaachan me. Go to sleep, Deku,” Katsuki huffed, gently flicking Izuku’s forehead.
“I don’t even know if he’s gonna be awake by then- I don’t want to bother him-”
“I will, then. I gotta check on that damn Half and Half fucker anyway, since I still owe Dabi,” Katsuki groaned.
“Kaachan…”
“Sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow, after we fucking dominate the exams.”
Izuku gave a tired little laugh, giving up and relaxing against Katsuki’s body. His eyes started to droop, even as he held his phone close to his chest. He hoped maybe Keigo would text him while he was sleeping, so he could at least wake up with the reassurance that he was ok.
Ever since Keigo had adopted him, the two had quickly latched on to each other like a barnacle to a ship. Neither minded, of course, since they were both a bit clingy and relied on each other. Keigo always made an effort to let Izuku know that he cared for him, and he wasn’t going to leave, as he had always wanted when he was a child. Izuku still struggled a bit with believing him, but he was working on it.
Katsuki was wary of Keigo at first, as he didn’t want Izuku to be used as some sort of publicity stunt for a stuck up hero. He would’ve strangled the bird himself had that been the case. Though, he relaxed his view over time, as he showed to be genuine in his affection and care for Izuku. So he accepted the bird into the dysfunctional family. It’d be officially four years since the adoption in about two weeks, Katsuki remembered.
His mind wandered, thinking about the half and half bastard Keigo had mentioned ot Izuku one night. He wondered how in the hell the bird had even known about them, considering Katsuki hadn’t even known Endeavour had any kids. Yet out they came, trailing along with the damn bird and waltzing into Katsuki and Izuku’s lives with their family issues in tow. Not that he had any room to judge, if the screaming match a floor below them was any indication.
Katsuki would never admit it out loud, but he was glad Izuku was here. It’s not that he wasn’t grateful to have the boy here, it was just that his mother was a lot more tame when other people were around. He loved having Izuku near him, since while he was, it was much easier to make sure that he’s ok, and because his positivity and determination was a nice change of pace from his mother’s brash attitude and his father’s blind compliance.
Izuku seemed to have guessed his train of thought, rousing from his sleep to put a gentle hand on his cheek.
“What’s on your mind, Mr Number One?” he asked softly.
Katsuki could barely contain the small smile at the nickname, letting out a content sigh and curling further in to Zuku.
“Not much, Mx Earth Shaker. Doze off so I can play with your hair already,” he jokingly prodded.
Izuku giggled, closing his eyes again as he nodded.
“Alright, alright. I’ll let Kaachan do as he pleases.”
Katsuki’s heart hurt at the declaration, thinking about how seriously he had taken it a few years back. He was so thankful that Hawks had adopted this nerd. He wasn’t sure if he would have had any big incentive to change without his support.
He shut his eyes as well, just taking in Izuku’s presence, enjoying the closeness. Basking in the somewhat-healthy relationship he was finally allowed to have with him.
~~~~~~~~
Shouto had faced a lot of things in their life.
Their oldest sibling leaving after a “training” accident so bad they weren’t allowed in the ash-filled room for weeks.
Their mother pouring hot water onto their face and almost immediately screaming in agony at what she had done.
The relentless years of abuse disguised as training from their “father”.
Their gender identity crisis, which their father would hopefully NEVER learn about.
Their sibling fucking coming back after they thought they were DEAD. And as a vigilante nonetheless !!
Shouto admitted they were very proud of their sibling, especially with how many lives their were saving and how little damage they were sustaining in comparison to their bastard of a father.
They finally had a role model to look up to.
So yea, they had dealt with a TON of shit in their life, but none of that could compare to the fear and anxiety that came with walking up to the gates of UA.
They knew from texting Katsuki and Izuku- (Izumi, they corrected, as it was a femme day for her) that the reccommendation exams were far different from the general applicant exams. So logically, they had all the reason to be at least a bit nervous.
What completely threw them off, though, was the pair of children sitting in the grass inside the gates.
Obviously, they hadn’t snuck in, as they had bentos and a box of toys sitting at their sides. They seemed to not even notice the students walking in, content with scribbling on their drawing pads and messing with their toys.
“You noticed them too?”
Shouto flinched at the new voice, turning around and relaxing at the face the voice belonged to.
“Yaomomo- You scared me-”
The girl backed away slightly, waving her hands in apology.
“My mistake ! I hadn’t meant to startle you, it’s just that- Haha well, you noticed them as well and I was wondering if you had any idea what they were doing here, since they don’t seem to be old enough to be students-” She rambled nervously.
“It’s fine. And I don’t think it’s any of our business. We should just get inside,” they lamented, walking forward stoically as they had no energy to hold a conversation at the moment.
Momo nodded absentmindedly, following her friend into the building and to the testing area. Shouto would glance back at her every once in a while, making sure she was following them and just to examine her. They hadn’t seen her in quite a while. Not that it was her fault, of course, since she had no control over what their father considered a “bad influence”. They were actually glad to see her again. They missed her.
They couldn’t say that now though, since they were under scrutiny by their peers and instructors.
“Ah- Shouto look out-”
Shouto let out a surprised grunt as they bumped into someone, backing up immediately after realizing they had knocked something out of their hands.
“Oh- I’m sorry- Here let me help you pick it up-”
“ It’s fine. Thanks. ” an annoyed sigh escaped the stranger, and Shouto looked up at them.
Right away, they noticed how much taller they were than them, and how much deeper their skin was. Not that they hadn’t seen brown skin around here before, if Izumi was any indication, they were just acknowleding that “yeah, I’m fucking pale”. What stood out to them, though, was the four large and long tentacles the sprouted from their back. They were kept close to the stranger’s body, possibly to keep them from hitting anyone, and were a deep and dark teal shade.
‘What an interesting quirk,’ they thought to themselves.
They ignored that train of thought for now though, kneeling down with Momo to help pick up what looked like textbooks that the stranger had dropped.
“ Sorry. Was spacing out and couldn’t really see past the stack. You ok? ” they asked, their deep voice sounding regretful.
“It’s no problem, I’m alright. I should have been paying more attention too,” Shouto hummed, wondering how they had been able to carry so many of these heavy ass textbooks at once.
After the three of them had finished gathering the book, the stranger stood up with them in their arms again, huffing with effort.
“ Thanks. ‘Name’s Joku. Nightmare Joku. You heading to the recommendation exam room? ” Nightmare asked.
“No problem! I’m Yaoyorozu Momo, and this is my friend Shouto. And yes, we were! Are you heading that way as well?” Momo asked, a smile on her face.
“ Yeah, actually. The principal asked me to drop these off there for the other students, since uh- I was here early- ” Nightmare answered, walking back down the hallway, “ Here, I’ll lead the way. I’ve been here a while so I know where everything is. ”
“Oh! Are you taking the exam as well? Or are you a teacher? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of you before- No offence-!” Momo continued, following along with Shouto.
“ Nah, not a teacher, and I’m not taking this exam. I’m uh- A transfer student, from- Italy so apologies if I stumble over my Japanese. ”
“You’re doing very well,” Shouto put in, nodding affirmatively.
Nightmare hummed in acknowledgement, coming up to a rather large door label “Exam Room #1”. They stopped, huffing with effort as they tried to shift the books in their hands to open the door. Momo quickly stepped forward.
“Ah, let me!”
She opened the door, stepping out of Nightmare’s way as he walked into the room.
“ Thanks- ”
“Ah! Mr Joku! Right on time!”
All three of them turned towards the excited voice of Present Mic, where he was standing with his arms out towards them.
“You can set those book right on the table up front, thank you! And Ms Yaoyorozu and Mr Todoroki, please make your way to your seats for the written exam!”
Shouto cringed at the formality, nodding silently as they waved goodbye to Nightmare. Nightmare waved back as he set down the books.
“ Need anything else, Mic? ” He asked, turning to the teacher.
“Nope! Just make sure you get back safe. Thanks again!” Mic smiled getting up from his seat.
Nightmare nodded, yawning as he left the room. Mic turned to the rest of the class, clapping his hands together before he spoke.
“Alright, now, there are three sections of this exam. Core subjects, Ethics, and Heroics. You have 40 minutes to complete as many questions as you can. Try to get as many as you can from each section,” he said, signing as he spoke, “After that, bring your materials up to the front desk, and go grab your gym uniforms for the second part of the exam. Everyone understand?”
When he was satisfied with the number of nods and “yes”es he got, he leaned back against the board and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Good! You may begin. Any questions, raise your hand and I will come to you.”
Shouto bit their lip as they looked down at the booklets on their desk, tapping their pencil against the table gently.
‘Here we go, I guess,’ they thought to themselves.
~~~~~~
Nightmare sighed as he made his way up the stairs, Avalon and Compassion at his sides. Nedzu had wanted them to come up and watch the practical exams, since they were the only three of their group on campus at the moment. Of course, Nightmare would much rather be here than the tense atmosphere back in the dorms, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to be here either. He looked over at Avalon, who was trembling slightly as they walked. He stopped immediately, letting go of Compassion’s hand so he could kneel down in front of Avalon.
“ What’s wrong, kiddo? ” he asked gently.
“ ...I- ” Avalon looked up at Nightmare with surprise, biting the hem of their sleeve.
‘ There’s so many people here today ,’ they signed, bouncing their leg as they stood.
“ Yeah, there are, huh? They’re all taking boring tests while you and Compassion get to watch them, yea? ” Nightmare half-joked, “ But we can head back if you really need. I won’t mind, love, you know that right? ”
“ No! No- It’s- ” Avalon jumped, their head jerking to the side in an anxious tic, ‘ No, I can stay-! Just- Kinda weird- ’
“Don’t worry Ava! I’m here with you, and I’m gonna beat up anyone who looks at you weird,” Compassion said proudly, grabbing his best friend’s hand and pulling them to her side.
Avalon let out a shriek of surprise and Nightmare gave an amused chuckle. He took Avalon’s hand again, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“ You can tell me at any time if you need to leave, ok? We’ll leave immediately. ”
Avalon gave him a grateful smile, letting themselves be pulled along by their dad and best friend.
Eventually, the three wound up where they were told to be, and Nightmare pushed open the door warily. Upon seeing them first, Mic grinned and waved them over enthusiastically.
“Come in, come in! You’re just in time! The exams started a bit ago, but we’re about to release the Zero Pointer!”
Shouta looked up from the screens to see who was entering, his brow raising in interest at the three.
“ Sure, sure. You sure these two will be good with watching? ” Nightmare asked cautiously.
“Absolutely!” Nedzu broke in, “Think of it as a large exercise or training session. Injuries here should be minimal and easy to heal up, so there are no worries there.”
Nightmare was careful kept his tentacles close to his body as he walked forward, only letting one wriggle freely to wrap around Avalon. Avalon grinned, hugging the appendage and keeping close in its hold.
“ Alright then, ” He acknowledged, sitting down next to Shouta, “ These are the kids getting in, then ?”
“These are the applicants, yes! A few day from now, we will see how many we accept. The school year is supposed to start this friday, if my new sorting plan works correctly!” Nedzu explained.
“You sure do like everything to move fast, hm? ” Nightmare hummed.
“Efficiency is indeed a guilty pleasure of mine,” Nedzu admits.
Nightmare snorted, looking up at the viewing screens to get a good look at the kids. His eyes stuck to one in particular, in one of the further off campus sites. The ash blond spikey hair stuck out to him, along with the bright and, quite literally, explosive quirk. While he still didn’t completely understand the biology or other science behind this world’s ‘quirks’ that didn’t mean he was blind to those who knew how to use them well. And this kid sure fucking knew how to use it well.
“ Hey.. Who’s that kid? ” he asked, pointing to the ash blond on screen.
“Oh! I know that kid!” Thirteen spoke up, surprising most of the room, “He came to one of my conventions with his friend. His name is uhhh… Katsuki! Katsuki Bakugou, if I remember correctly. Very insightful kid, he and his green-haired friend had a lot of good questions about how my quirk worked.”
“ Katsuki Bakugou, hm? ” Nightmare hummed, “ He seems… Hauntingly familiar…. ”
“... Uncle Nightmare??” Compassion asked, breaking Nightmare from his thoughts.
“ Sorry- Just thought I remembered him from somewhere. Impossible, I know, ” he shrugged.
“Nothing is impossible. Or else you wouldn’t be here right now. But if you insist!” Nedzu said, sipping from his tea, “Now! I do think we have waited long enough, yes? I’m releasing the zero pointer!”
He pressed a button on the console, and the camera views on screen began to shake. Although the videos had no sound, it was pretty easy to identify the fear in the students’ faces. Nightmare’s eyes widened as he watched three humongous robots lumber out from their underground compartments, in three different locations. Kids from each location seemed to scramble away from them, trying to avoid the disasterous path.
All but one, it seemed.
“ Hey uh Thirteen? That wouldn’t happen to be Blasty’s green-haired friend you were talking about, would it? ” Nightmare asked.
Thirteen’s eyes widened a comcial amount, and they stood to get a closer look at the screen.
“Holy smokes! That is!” they exclaimed in disbelief.
“Young Izuku Takami! What an interesting turn of events!” Nedzu piped up.
In the back of the room, Toshinori wrung his hands nervously, listening to the commotion quietly but not engaging. He hoped the young Takami was fairing well, as they had shown great promise during their training, even without One For All.
‘Kick their ass, young Takami,’ he thought to himself, chuckling aloud at the thought.
Nightmare turned towards the sound, raising a brow curiously before settling back to look at the screen.
“That kid’s gonna hurt themselves if they’re no careful. I hate wasted potential,” Shouta said absentmindedly.
“What’s that I hear? Is that Shouta Aizawa, aka Eraserhead acknowledging that someone has potential?” Midnight teased, hanging off the back of Shouta’s chair.
Shouta rolled his eyes, pushing her off and turning back to the screen.
“I’m saying it would be stupid for them to do something risky and flashy instead of thinking about the situation logically.”
“ Logically, ” Nightmare mocked.
“You hold your tongue.”
“ Don’t think humans are supposed to do that, teach’. ”
“WOW!! Uncle Nightmare look!! Oh my gosh!! That kid just crunched that big scary robot like a soda can!!” Compassion shook Nightmare’s arm violently, pointing at the screen with starry eyes, “That’s so cool!!!”
And, true to her word, the robot lay crunched into a compressed block on the ground, a panting and sweaty child standing in front of it. Nightmare had to give it to this ‘Izuku’, they were pretty good.
The group watched as Izuku ran off to the side, pulling up some ruble with their quirk [which seemed to be some kind of elements quirk] and helping out a student who was trapped under it.
“Oh!! Izuku was saving that girl who was trapped! Izuku is so cool!! Mr Nedzu you gotta let them in!!” Compassion exclaimed, bouncing in their spot excitedly.
“We’ll definitely see to it, Young Compassion! That move pulled up young Takami’s score with rescue points!” Nedzu nodded, sipping at his jasmine tea yet again.
“ Not gonna lie, that was pretty sick, ” Nightmare smirked, nodding at the screen, “ Broccoli’s got some tricks. ”
“Broccoli?” Mic laughed.
“I’d say ‘Problem Child’ instead,” Shouta sighed, observing the kid’s tattered arm.
“Woah! That’s a little harsh, they’re not even in your class yet!” Midnight joked.
“Yet,” Nightmare and Shouta said in unison.
“Yet,” Nedzu agreed, a sly grin on his face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“There is a REASON I told you NOT to do that, ‘Zumi!!” Katsuki yelled, shoving Izumi as she left the nurse’s office.
Izumi let out a shriek of surprise, quickly correcting her position and pouting at Katsuki.
“Come on, Kaachan! That girl was gonna be crushed if I didn’t help her!” they defended.
“Like hell she was! She was fine! It’s an entrance exam, ‘Zumi. They wouldn’t purposely harm one of the students!” Katuski shot back, rolling his eyes.
“You don’t know that! And she couldn’t even move because her ankle was sprained! I was gonna help her anyway!”
“Well you could have done it a MUCH less harmful way! You’re gonna fuck up your body too much to keep training if you keep doing reckless shit like that!”
“Why do you even care so much! You got hurt just the same! Don’t think I didn’t notice your bandages too!”
“That wasn’t because I did something reckless, that was because some extra knocked me out of the air! All I got was a few bruises, you broke your whole fucking arm, Izumi!”
“And I’m fine! Recovery Girl healed me up!”
“THAT’S NOT THE POINT!!”
“Woah, woah, woah!”
Both of them spun around at the familiar voice, Izumi’s eyes lighting up as her brother landed. Keigo gave them a small smile as he approached, his hands in his pockets.
“I get your point, Katsu-chan, but Izumi’s alright now, yea? They knew the risks when she did it, and I’d rather her do it with good reason than recklessly.”
Katsuki scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest and turning from them. Izumi bounded over to Keigo, wrapping him up in a tight hug that he was quick to return.
“You came back! I thought you were like- Captured or the HPSC caught you!” she said through sniffles.
“Of course I came back, hatchling. I wouldn’t leave you like that! And there’s no way I could miss my best little sibling’s exam yea? How about I treat the both of you to some spicy ramen and katsudon, yea? You two worked hard today and you deserve it. Maybe we can even rope Shouchan into coming!”
Izumi’s eyes sparkled with excitement and she flapped her hands excitedly at the proclamation.
“Can we?! Oh my gosh- We haven’t gone out in a while Kaachan! And we can bring Shouchan too! Please, Kei-nii, can we?!”
Katsuki looked over in interest, definitely enthralled by the idea of having to spend less time at his house.
“Haha- Calm down, Izuzu, we’ll go. We gotta go find Shouchan, first, though! Then we can head out. Either of you know where they would be?” Keigo pet Izumi’s head gently, smiling at her stims.
“Saw the fucker leave the exam rooms a while back. They might still be in the changing room,” Katsuki grumbled.
“I can go check! I remember where those are!” Izumi chirped up.
“That’s probably a better idea, since I can’t really go inside right now,” Keigo admitted, “You need Katsuki to come with you or-?”
“I’m going with anyway. Like hell I’m letting this clumsy idiot go in by theirself,” Katsuki snapped, putting a protective hand on Izumi’s shoulder.
Izumi looked like she was about to protest, before deciding better of it.
“Oh also uh- They/them time-!” Izu corrected, feeling the subtle shift in their expression.
“Alrighty Mx Handsome They/them. Go in and find our resident Pretty They/Them ‘n we’ll be on our way,” Keigo smiled.
“Rodger! Come on Kaachan, lets go find Shouchan!” Izu grinned, tugging Katsuki back towards the school to go find their friend.
Keigo smiled as he watched them go, folding his arms and leaning against a tree to wait. He relaxed a bit when they were out of sight, letting his smile melt into a worry expression.
He had spent the night camped out at the League’s base, unable to sleep anywhere else. But while he was there, he couldn’t stop thinking about the children . He woke up from the echoes of their screams in his memory, from the image of the blood painting the floor as they dropped like flies, from Haruki’s horrified expression as she realized what she had done.
He pursed his lips, tapping his foot anxiously as he started to tic.
‘Not now. Now we’re treating our little sibling. Now is now,’ he thought to himself.
Luckily, he didn’t need to wait long, as he heard the tell-tale chattering of Izu’s rambling. He looked up from the ground, watching as Izu dragged both Shouto and Katsuki towards him.
“-and so I was trying to figure out how to work around the rebound of my quirk while in the exam but I was too fast so I ran into one of the building and broke my nose but it’s ok because Recovery Girl healed it and I flew this time! Anyway I started blasting-”
“Hey you three! Come on, we don’t have all night, ya know? You need to get good rest habits for the school year!” Keigo called out, standing up straight and waving them over.
Izu grinned and raced over, holding out their bag.
“Kei-nii! I’ve been saving up for a while because I wanted to and I have enough to get something extra for you myself!! Uh- If- If you’re ok with it anyway-” their voice levelled, and they played with their hair nervously.
Keigo could barely hold back his grin, wrapping his little sibling up in a big hug.
“Have I ever told you that you’re a selfless angel and I love you?” he asked seriously.
“Many times,” Katsuki grumbled, rolling his eyes.
Izu flushed slightly, hugging back before backing away.
They gasped with realization, turning around and grabbing Shouto’s hands.
“Oh! Shouchan you said you met someone today!”
“Oh. Uhm- It wasn’t really meeting someone- Me and Yaomomo were heading towards the exam room and we bumped into this guy, he said his name was Nightmare. He’s really tall, and I don’t know what his quirk is called, but he had like- These really big and long tentacles coming from his back. It looked like something you would be interested in, Izu,” Shouto answered, scratching their neck awkwardly.
True to their word, Izu’s eyes widened, filled with stars as they flapped their hands excitedly again.
“That sounds so cool!! I hope he gets in and I can see him because I wanna know how his quirk works ough- Does he have control over all of them? Maybe they’re sentient? Do they have range? Maybe they can extend-!”
“Deku we’re never going to get to eat if you keep fucking rambling,” Katsuki said, grabbing their arm and dragging them along behind Keigo.
Shouto followed behind the three quietly, listening to Katsuki and Izu banter back and forth. Keigo made sure to keep pace with them, even though he wanted to go faster. He was much more interested in his sibling’s happenings anyways, since the entrance exam sounded a lot more crazy than anything he had done back in his schooling days.
The city passed by them quickly as they walked, a lot quieter since Keigo was disguised, his wings bound underneath his heavy jacket. Katsuki and Izu had stopped bickering, instead Keigo was telling them about his most recent mission [leaving out the bits about the children that had been captured] and talking about all the cities he had travelled to undercover.
Shouto was interested in his undercover time in Hosu, claiming that they had some extended family from their mom’s side living there that they hadn’t seen in awhile. Keigo indulged them, talking about the scenery and locals of Hosu rather than mission intel.
The smile on Shouto’s face was definitely worth the internal storm brewing right beneath his skin.
~~~~~~
Lust checked his bag for the third time, scratching at his wrists anxiously. He smoothed out the skirt on his uniform, making sure there were no wrinkles in it. He had been anxiously going over his appearance and list of supplies for the last twenty minutes, and he was sure his friends were starting to get annoyed.
Today was the first day of the semester, and everyone was preparing for their schooling. Nedzu had decided it better for them to have a specialized schedule rather than test into General Studies like he had originally planned, claiming that they didn’t want to risk any complications that may come into play. Whatever the hell that meant.
Nedzu also said this was the first day the students would be in the building, so that was also adding to his anxiety. Thankfully, though, the other students wouldn’t be moving into the dorms with them until a week from now.
“Lust?” Dream called out, “Are you ready to go? Our uh- Orientation thing starts in a few minutes.”
“Yeah! Sorry, I’m coming- Just- Had to put in my contacts” he lied, pulling on his shoes and quickly grabbing his messenger bag.
He quickly opened his door, offering Dream a reassuring smile as it moved out of his way.
“My bad haha- Forgot somethin’, forgot what I forgot, then remembered last second-” he said quickly, walking down the hall with Dream.
“Oh! Haha that’s ok, that happens to me all the time- Anyway, the others are already waiting downstairs, and then Aizawa is going to be our instructor today. He said we’re gonna do stuff with his homeroom today since it’s just the first day. Said it was something about getting used to the social setting or something,” Dream explained as the two walked, waving its hands as it spoke.
Lust nodded along, following closely at Dream’s side.
“So we’re gonna be dealing with a bunch of other kids. Ok. Alright- Uh- I can handle that- Who is Compassion and Avalon staying with today again?”
“Oh! Mr Yagi said he would watch them today, since Nedzu hasn’t found tutors for them yet and Yagi doesn’t have classes today,” Dream clarified.
Lust hummed in acknowledgement, pushing the door open to the outside. The rest of their group turned at the noise, and Error gave him a soft genuine smile, waving to him. Lust gave a small smile and wave back, hovering to their side.
“Alright! Everyone ready to go?” Mic, who was escorting them today, asked.
A chorus of affirmations rouse from the group, and Mic nodded, walking them towards the school.
“Right then! So, you’re going to be spending the next two days with Aizawa and his class, then you’ll spend the following days with Kan. Fridays are days that Nedzu sits with you. We’ll have typed up versions of this schedule for you, by the way! This, of course, is subject to change depending on how well you do in their classes. Which isn’t dependent solely on your academic performances, so don’t worry!”
Error listened carefully as Mic spoke, holding onto Lust’s hand to guide him as he walked. Lust was trying his best not to space out while he walked, but his anxiety was not helping. He managed, though. By the time they reached the doors, students of all types were finally walking through the gates. Lust squeezed Error’s hand uncomfortably, and Error squeezed back comfortingly.
Mic led them through the hallways, talking about the classes and their subjects and teachers as they went. Dream and Cross were paying avid attention to what Mic was saying, while Nightmare just seemed to zone back in whenever he pleased.
Thankfully, they reached the class just as Aizawa did, easing Lust’s worry of being late and getting in trouble. However, Aizawa was laying on the floor in a yellow sleeping bag, looking like he had only woken up maybe 10 minute prior.
Nightmare snorted.
“ Mood.”
Aizawa rolled his eyes, but gave Mic a small wave as they left.
“Come on, Problem Children, we have a class to do,” he said, somehow managing to slide open the huge ass door and crawl in.
The six looked at each other in confusion for a moment before awkwardly following him. Immediately, all chatter in the room stopped, eyes of all sorts trailing to both them and Aizawa.
“Record time. You noticed me immediately and quieted down,” he slipped out of his sleeping bag, standing up to the podium, “My name is Shouta Aizawa. I’m your homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you.”
A collective murmur rouse from the sitting students, as if they were trying to decide if they recognized him from somewhere. He ignored them and turned to the group still at the door, motioning to the floor next to him.
“Set your bags down here.”
They were quick to follow his instructions, uncomfortable with all the eyes on them.
“Uh- Aizawa-Sensei? Are they students too?” A girl with pink skin asked, tilting her head with curiosity.
“Kind of. These are transfer students, from Italy and London. They’re going to be shadowing classes for a few days before we decide where they’ll end up,” He looked over at them, “Do you want to introduce yourselves?”
‘You don’t have to,’ he signed as well.
There was a beat of hesitancy among them before Nightmare sighed and stepped forward.
“ Ciao. Name’s Nightmare Joku. He/him pronouns. This is my twin, Dream, ” he said, motioning to it as he spoke, “ My Japanese is rusty. Correct me if I say something wrong because I won’t know it. ”
“Oh uh-! Uhm- My name is- Dream-! ...Like he said already haha- uh- I uh- I use a l-lot of uhm- Iusealotofdifferentpronounssopleaseaskforthem- Usingit/itsandthey/themrightnowhaha-” Dream said quickly, shifting anxiously as it spoke and biting the edge of their sleeve.
“I’m Ink Comyet. Comyet, to you, though. Born in Japan, was living in Italy with the Twins. They/them or choke,” Ink introduced, gently rubbing Dream’s back in reassurance.
“Ah- Well- I’m- Ahaha my name’s Lust Hearts. Kinda weird, I know uhm- I’m a dude just kinda- Yeah. This is Error Ratum. He’s mostly nonverbal so they use sign to communicate- Yeah-” Lust fidgeted with the hem of his skirt, staying close to Error as he continued, “I actually uhm- I’m Latine, so- I speak spanish too- Was just living in London for middle school- Uh-”
“I’m Cross Abate. I’m deaf, but I use hearing aids. I use he/they. I’m not too good with spoken words, but I’ll try my best,” Cross introduce lastly, their form a bit tense but otherwise alright.
They all looked to Aizawa for help as they finished. He sighed.
“Alright. Try to remember their names because they might be with us for a while. If I catch anyone picking on them for any reason, I will not hesitate to send you to Nedzu. That applies to all of you. Now, put on your gym uniforms and meet me out in the field.”
Everyone looked surprised at that, an echo of confusion breaking out amongst them.
“Changing rooms are down the hall. We don’t have all day.”
~~~~~~~~
Shouto stood conflicted as they looked at the three different changing rooms. They definitely didn’t want to go into the boy’s, but they also weren’t entirely sure that no one would rat them out to their father if they went in the neutral one. They bit their lip, tapping their foot as they tried to hurry up and make a decision, since they knew they didn’t have much time.
They heard an irritated sigh behind them and suddenly they were being pushed into the neutral changing rooms.
“For fucks sake just go in. I know a closeted bitch when I see one, and you’re just blocking the door,” Comyet said behind them, letting go after the door closed behind them both.
“Ah- Uhm- Sorry-” Shouto apologised quietly, quickly retreating into a stall so no one saw them.
They were grateful the decision was made for them, but still anxious. They could hear Izu’s chattering outside their stall though, which helped ease their worries in the slightest.
Shouto had to admit they were a bit surprised when Nightmare had shown up in their class, since they hadn’t even known that transfer students could be put into regular classes. Hell, they hadn’t even known there WERE transfer students in the first place.
They’d been homeschooled their whole life, sue them.
“You all gotta hurry up. Aizawa’s not gonna wait for us to start,” Comyet called out, their voice loud.
“Ah-! Sorry! We’ll be out in a minute!” Izu called out, and Shouto sighed as they heard them yelp as they tripped.
“Shouchan? Are you in here?” Izu asked, much quieter this time.
Shouto pursed their lips, but knocked on their stall door three times to let Izu know they were there.
“Okay! I’ll wait here for you so you don’t have to come out alone, ok?”
Two knocks this time.
Shouto hurried with setting their uniform off to the side, pulling their shoes back on and zipping up their shirt. They opened the door slowly, looking to where Izu stood off to the side. Izu smiled at them, grabbing their hand and throwing their hoodie over Shouto to cover their hair.
“Alright! Let’s go out on the field then!”
Shouto just let them be their guide, letting out a relieved sigh when they left the room.
~~~~~~~~
“Aizawa-sensei-? Aren’t we supposed to be at an orientation or something?” a tall kid with weird elbows asked, raising his hand.
Aizawa turned to him, inspecting him for a moment before humming.
“Yuuei’s selling point is its unorthodox teaching methods and traditions. Teachers are free to teach their classes as they see fit. And I see it fit to have a quirk apprehension test so I know what I’m working with,” he said, signing as he spoke.
“A what apprehension test?” Cross asked.
‘Q-U-I-R-K apprehension. Testing your q-u-i-r-k-s to see their limits,’ he signed back.
Cross nodded in thanks, as the class looked around in shock and confusion at the teacher’s declaration.
“You kids are familiar with the concept. Don’t act so surprised. Physical fitness tests where you weren’t allowed to use your quirks. The country still uses these averages for some stupid reason, though. It’s not a good reason, I assure you,” he leans back, cracking his knuckles before resuming his signing and speaking, “Bakugou. You finished top of the practical exam, correct?”
Bakugou nodded his head, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“In junior high, what was your result for the softball throw?”
“67 metres.”
“Try doing it with your quirk,” Aizawa says, motioning to the white circle at his feet.
Bakugou gives him a heatless glare, stepping up to the circle and picking up the ball on the ground.
“You can do whatever you want, as long as you stay inside the circle. Give it all you’ve got,” Aizawa said, stepping back to let Bakugou do his thing.
Bakugou rolled his shoulders for a moment, stretching out the muscles there as he prepared to throw.
‘At least he has some self preservation,’ Aizawa thought to himself, watching him warm up.
Bakugou reeled back, stepping back as he felt the flickers of his quirk coming to life in his palms. He launched the ball forward, his quirk activating at the last moment of contact and causing the ball to rocket into air at breakneck speeds.
“DIE!” He yelled, as at speed away.
Shouto rolled their eyes at his actions, scooting a bit closer to Izu who was mesmerized by Katsuki’s power.
“Know your maximum first,” Aizawa said as he tracked the ball with his eyes.
Lust watched with wide eyes as the ball soared through the air, not even having realized just how powerful certain quirks could be. So far, he had only Recovery Girl and Nedzu’s quirks to compare, so this was definitely a learning experience for him. And beside him Error’s eyes were filled with stars, their mind trying to decipher how exactly a quirk like that would work, and what made it go. Their biology spin fluttered with excitement deep in their Soul [or whatever was left of it].
Everyone gawked at Katsuki’s score, a whopping 750 metres, in awe and disbelief.
“Woah-! Dude you’re really good!” The girl with pink skin complimented, her pink hair bouncing as she swayed in place.
“That looks pretty hard-” Another dude, with red hair and sharp teeth mumbled.
“ Blasty’s impressive onscreen and offscreen ,” Nightmare mumbled to himself with a grin.
Aizawa turned to them all, his eyes narrow as he seemed to contemplate something.
“A reminder that this is the Hero Course. Meaning, we’re not doing this all for fun. We’re training you to become heroes, heroes that save lives. We can’t afford those who slack off. The one to finish in last place at the end of the tests gets expelled.”
The class let out an outcry of surprise and disbelief, their faces morphing from excitement to fear.
“But-! We tested to get in! We worked hard to get here! That’s not fair!” a student with yellow hair and a black lightning bolt streak said.
Aizawa’s face was schooled, his tone level as he responded.
“Natural Disasters aren’t fair. Villain Attacks aren’t fair. Domestic Abuse cases aren’t fair. Human Trafficking isn’t fair. Japan is full of unfairness. That’s why heroes are here. To combat that and help ease the pain. If you can’t handle that, then don’t try to become a hero.”
The silence that followed his response told him all he needed to know about the upcoming year, a glance at all the diverse expressions telling him more.
“Good. You understand. Now let’s get started.”