Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Why didn't you use your quirk at the entrance exam, or with the quirk apprehension test just now?" 

Izuku stops. "What quirk, Yagi?"  

"One for All? You know, the one-" All Might sputters, but is quickly cut off.

"I don't have that quirk, Yagi. I don't need a quirk either Yagi. I can be a hero without one, All Might.” Izuku spits, rejecting the pro. Kinda like how he rejected one for all.

This visibly stuns All Might.

"Young Midoriya, what happened?" 

All Might tossing a toaster at him is what did him in.

One moment Izuku is carrying a very heavy tire, and the next, he’s on the ground in pain and not able to move.  All Might, not seeing an issue, tells him to get his crying under control if he was going to be a hero that people depended on.  

Izuku cried harder.

All Might walks toward him and pats him roughly on the back.  While Izuku heaves, All Might states, “We should work on your reaction time my boy! Come now! No time to waste.”  Izuku, through tear-filled eyes, glares up at the hero.  “C’mon Young Midoriya, get up and let’s continue with the training.”  At Izuku’s immobile state, the giant poofed and sighed.  “Don’t you want to be a hero, young man?  Heroes have to deal with bigger-”

“I can’t move,” Izuku wheezed, “I think I need to go to a hospital.”  Every muscle on All Might’s big body freezes.

When Izuku is picked up none-too-gently, he shrieks.  All Might shushes him like a mother scolding a child.  God this hurts; why does it hurt so muchithurtsithurtsmomamIgoingtodiewhy-  

Izuku’s thoughts are cut off by blinding pain.  As his vision flickers in and out, he realizes they’re in the air.  The rough wind combs its fingers through his hair as tears pour down his face. 

 He flashes in and out of consciousness, but eventually All Might stops.  A kiss on his head later by an old lady - Recovery Girl his mind supplies - and Izuku is dead tired. He hears bits and pieces of conversation around him, but he doesn’t have the energy to process them. 

When they are alone, All Might, in his small form, clears his throat.

“I know you went through a lot recently.” He coughs into his handkerchief.  “With UA around the corner, and your body being built up very quickly, I believe I can bestow upon you the quirk that has been passed down to me by my predecessor, and her predecessor before her.”  We still have some time left, All Might, and the beach isn’t even fully cleaned , Izuku idly wonders. 

All Might stares into the younger’s eyes long enough for Izuku to squirm uncomfortably.  He plucks a hair the size of a spaghetti noodle out from his head and holds it in front of Izuku.

“Eat this.”

Izuku closes his eyes and sighs, hoping for this nightmare to be over.  All Might heads over to where he is laying on a couch, and Izuku peeks through one open eye to look up at his childhood hero.

“I know you are tired right now, but if you eat it before you go back to sleep, the hair will be digested by the time you wake up.  My quirk is passed through DNA transmission, and you, Young Midoriya, are more than ready for it.” 

Mentally crying, Izuku begrudgingly sits up and grabs the hair.  He places it in his mouth and All Might’s smile brightens.

“I will leave you alone now, my boy,” Izuku cringes, “rest up now!  We don’t need a stunt like today to happen anytime soon, now do we?”  With that, All Might promptly struts out with a boisterous laugh.

Once Izuku sees a trashcan across the room, he stumbles toward it and starts gagging.  To get the hair out, he had to stick his fingers down his throat, but he was willing to do anything to get the greasy, hair-gelled strand out.  Eventually, he successfully grabs it, yanks it, and tosses it into the bin.

“Fuck that.” 

 Izuku wipes his mouth with disgust before mumbling, "Fuck quirks," with a determined look casting across his face.

Brought to you by a dumbass might 

 Yagi wasn't expecting to have to take his predecessor to the hospital so soon. He hadn't even wielded One For All yet! He sighs.

 Kids can be so dramatic these days. 

 Especially that Shouto Todoroki kid. Honestly, he should have expected such over-emotional responses. He is the son of Endeavor, after all. 

Yagi had met the 'delightful' child when bringing Endeavor files for a case and he was just so… 

 ...Yagi's vocabulary didn’t reach that far.  

 Anyway, the Midoriya kid had addled Yagi to an extent. Always mumbling nonsense and writing in those stupid and unnecessary journals. He asked the most ridiculous questions that Yagi didn't even know the answers to, and is so fragile and flimsy that he couldn’t even handle being thrown a fucking toaster! 

Yagi coughed into his fist.  Today is another torturous meetup with the greenette. He creaks with every step he takes toward the beach, dreading and despairing what was to come. 

  That's when he heard it. The screaming of his mentor- Nana. He's running and running and there's dead weight and- oh .  

 "...You could've been injured, my boy!" He forces out, trying to set the greenette on his feet. Before he can do so, the kid promptly jumps out of his arms and makes an obvious effort to distance the two. 

Midoriya glances down at his hands, which are covered in grime and sand. He silently picks at a piece of metal that was dug into his skin as Yagi looks over his body that’s covered head to toe with abrasions and scratches. 

 "My boy! What happened?" 

 He receives a glare. 

 "I decided to clean the entire beach. Got hurt in the process." 

Yagi doubts this immensely. He was just a frail and skinny boy who just-so-happened to have enough potential for One For All. Actually, if Midoriya didn't make it into UA, he'd just politely ask him to give it to Young Mirio. No big deal. 

 "Are you sure? Who helped you?" He asks incredulously. Midoriya clicks his tongue. 

 "It was just me and Suteru."

 Yagi raises an eyebrow. "Suteru?" 

 Midoriya nods and shuffles over to the wall used for gazing upon the beach and crouches down next to his atrocious red shoes. A black blur jumps up into his arms and the boy stumbles back. The cat didn't even look over 500 grams and he still struggled?

He giggles and makes his way back over to Yagi. In his arms is a black, fluffy cat. Noticeable patches of fur were missing from the feline, showing obvious signs of being in a fight. Under the mass of fluff, there was a bump shaped on the cat's head where their ear should be, probably a cauliflower ear. 

 "My word, that thing looks horrific." Yagi deadpans. Both heads snap up at him. What horrifies Yagi more is the fact the cat has red eyes. 

 "What the hell Yagi?" Midoriya growls and hugs the cat tighter. 

 Yagi blinks. "How did you find out my name?" He asks hesitantly. 

 "Never trust me with the internet, Ya-" 

 Suteru hisses. "Calm your..." He glares at Suteru. "... animal down, young Midoriya." Yagi orders, backing away fearfully. Midoriya blinks, then grins the biggest shit eating grin the blonde had ever seen. It rivals Nezu's.  

 Then, Midoriya just plops the feline on the ground. "I'm sorry, what was that Yagi?" 

 Yagi went home with plenty of scratches and a lot of pain. Don't fuck with Midoriya. He notes, slamming his head on his very modest All Might pillow.

Chapter Text

The number one douchebag really pissed Izuku off, but the universe still wanted to fuck with him. Venom seethes through his teeth as he marches toward the beach, fresh tears spilling over the already-dried tracks left behind from this morning.  Scratch pissed, he was absolutely livid.  

After his interaction with the muscle headed hero, Izuku regrettably didn’t go back to the beach for about a week.  He spent days upon days holed up in his room, trying to recuperate from the hell he went through; it didn’t calm him down in the slightest.  On multiple occasions, he also raised his voice at his mother when she tried cooking food - like katsudon, his favorite - for him because never yell, that’ll make it easier to find you, mom is scared of yelling . 

One glance around the beach once he arrived also told him that his favorite black cat wasn’t at the beach anymore; to top off the cake, it was starting to fill up with trash again.  Izuku’s lip wobbled as everything started to overwhelm him. 

Maintenance wasn’t something All Might had told him about in the beginning.

All Might wasn’t here though, so Izuku had to face the consequences.

Izuku steps down the stairs and his foot almost immediately goes straight onto a large piece of glass.  Sighing, he carefully maneuvers around the chunk and scans the area to see what he would be dealing with.  Once satisfied, he huffs, rolls up his sleeves, and gets straight to work.  

 Shouta did not like the number one hero in the slightest. He was arrogant and cocky, plus he seemed so absorbed in his fame. Now, what did that son of a rat, Nezu, tell him? 

 He was going to have to work with this bumblefuck. Shouta needed a break.

 There's a certain beach he enjoyed. Its piles of trash made for great kitten hideouts and is just a peaceful place to hide from the world in. Listening to the waves crash against the shore and watching the sand get swallowed up calmed him. 

 It's called The Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, but humans being humans shortened it to Dagobah Beach. Not that he minded, it was a mouthful to pronounce. 

 So when Shouta finds a short and plain looking teenager cleaning it up, he's surprised to say the least. Most people just scoff at the mess and turn away. In fact, he would still be surprised if he found a hero here, not to mention a Junior High kid. 

 The kid picks up a piece of metal, looking directly at Shouta. His face has a particular melancholy, before it shifts into a small smile. 

 "I'm sorry, I can go if you want." He apologizes, standing up straight. Shouta shakes his head wordlessly, his eyes linger on the boy. 

 He grunts and turns his view to the small gap peeking through to the ocean. 

 "It shouldn't be a problem. What are you up to, kid?" 

 The younger blinks a few times before realizing. He chuckles, "Just cleaning up." The freckled boy begins flailing his arms around. "Is that against the rules-? Sorry, it probably is i can go-" 

  "It isn't as far as I know," Shouta lifts an eyebrow, "as long as there isn't any quirk usage." 

 Then, something in the boy snaps. He completely demolishes the piece of junk in his hand and his knuckles turn white. 

 "It's always quirk this, quirk that.. like holy mother of Japan, quirks aren't.." 

 "..maybe they are?" 

 "..." 

 Shouta was, undoubtedly, confused as hell. He was concerned, of course, but more confused than anything. 

 "I'm sorry?" 

 The green haired boy looked up, dazed, promptly going back to smiling. “Sorry sir, no there’s no quirk usage involved. Excuse me..” He rushed passed Shouta quickly, placing the crushed metal in the pile. 

 “Hm. Say, what is your name? You have a lot of potential.” 

 He froze for a second, before cocking his head with a grin. “Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya, and I’m gonna be the first quirkless hero!”

It was n’t like he was worried about the kid, Shouta told himself as he watched the teen drag a car door through the sand.  Midoriya hardly pauses in his efforts when he calls out to the underground hero. 

“You know, if you were going to just stand there, you could get me a juice box or something.” The greenette grunts in greeting as Shouta reveals himself and saunters down the boardwalk.  Midoriya stands up straight and blasts a bright smile toward him.  This kid…

He ignores the flash of black in his peripheral and focuses all of his attention on the problem child. 

“Why are you here?” the kid asks as he sets down the door with a tilt of his head. This irks Shouta because he, himself, didn't really know the answer. Being honest, he didn’t even expect Midoriya to be back at the beach.  Then why did you come back, old man?

Shouta scowls, and seeing the confusion on Midoriya’s face reminds him of the unanswered question.  “It’s a good place to scope out for any scared and abandoned cats.” Not exactly the truth, but not a lie.

The greenette looks sheepish as he quickly turns away and picks the door up again.  Shouta can’t help but notice how easily he does it. 

“You know, I never got your name Era-“ Midoriya shuts his mouth with a click and speed walks away.  Shouta, intrigued, quickly catches up with him. 

“I’m sure with that big brain of yours, you could figure it out,” Shouta remarks.  The problem child stops in his tracks; sadly, and painfully, this causes Shouta to slam into the back of the younger.  Didn’t realize I was going that fast, he thinks as soon as he makes contact. 

They go down, and they go down hard. 

The still-costumed hero groans as he gets up and, when he’s going to ask if Midoriya is all right because he isn’t that cruel, he stops himself. 

The kid looks exhausted. 

“These problem children,” Shouta mutters to himself, slowly getting up - yeah that’s gonna leave a mark - and, noticing the boy not moving, raises his voice. “When’s the last time you had a break?” Midoriya just blinks.

Shouta exhales as if it will release any of the weight of his sins.  Is this kid serious?  At the kid opening his mouth, Shouta cuts him off. 

“You said you were going to be the first quirkless hero, right?”  Midoriya nods.  “All heroes need to know their limits so they aren’t a liability on the field, and you have clearly passed yours.”  Yes, Shouta could have worded it better, but it seemed to get the point across as the kid nods with understanding.  The newsflash Shouta handed him doesn’t stop him from pouting. 

Midoriya mumbles something about All Might and Aizawa does a double take. 

“Could you repeat that?”

Midoriya pouts harder and whines, “I said, if All Mi- excuse me, Yagi, was here, he wouldn’t do this.  He’d make me push through my ‘limits’–” Midoriya air quotes– “so I wouldn’t waste any time.”

“...and how do you know this?”  Shouta asks carefully. 

The kid seems to go from scared, to reluctant, to determined in the span of a few seconds; it honestly threw Shouta for a loop. 

“Well, you see, it all started when I was declared quirkless.”  

Shouta tries to pick up the door so the teen wouldn’t have to worry about straining himself, but Midoriya shoots up and snatches it before the older could properly get his hands on it. 

Shouta doubts the problem child when he says that he can handle it, but not wanting him to be discouraged from continuing his backstory, he watches him in case he needs to step in. 

Midoriya clears his throat and sets the door down. “This is going to be a long story, sorry.” 

He rubs the back of his head as Shouta cracks his knuckles. He spots a vending machine and gestures for the kid to follow him. 

The greenette follows him at his heels like a puppy. Fitting, Shouta thinks to himself as he arrives and orders two waters. Making sure Midoriya wasn’t looking, he added an apple-flavored juice box. 

Aizawa learns two things that day:  The kid will cry if given a juice box, and Yagi is on his shitlist and isn’t getting off anytime soon. 

*insert mothman yawning because they do be tired*

It was a week before the entrance exam for U.A. when Eraserhead showed up.  It was almost the best week of Izuku’s life.  Everytime he was around, Izuku felt elated.

 Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. 

The last day before Izuku was going to start his quirkless hero career, Yagi showed up looking for something he wouldn’t get. 

Izuku had been peacefully sitting on the sand, stroking Suteru’s back, when a certain hero’s laugh startled them both. 

And now, Izuku tells himself as he holds Suteru tighter in his arms, this idiot is trying to apologize so he can have a restful piece of mind.  He glowers as Yagi stumbles over his words and tries to start talking again. 

“You know, Yagi , if you truly want me to accept your apology,” Yagi looks hopeful, “Suteru has to accept it first.”

Yagi scowls in confusion. 

“He’s just a cat,” Yagi tries to say, but stops himself when Izuku turns his back toward the hero.  He‘s quick to correct himself. “I’ll do anything for you, my boy!”

Ignoring the nickname, Izuku squeezes Suteru closer before turning around and holding the cat out by the armpits.  The closer Yagi got, however, the more Suteru struggled. 

This struggle ended up with Izuku being scratched and Yagi being bitten.  Visibly enraged, Yagi yanks the cat out of Izuku’s arms and tosses him toward the ocean. 

Izuku cries out when Suteru lands roughly in the shallows, and starts hyperventilating when the cat struggles to get up.  Luckily, [redacted] dashes away right as his vision starts to cloud up. 

He can’t move, and he sees Eraser and he can’t move. He barely hears Yagi comment on how having a fit over a cat, that was completely and perfectly fine, wasn’t heroic, but Izuku glares at the hero regardless. Eraser starts heading their way as Yagi shoots off; he looks horrified. Izuku seizes up. 

He can’t move. 

He can't he can't he can't he can't-

 "Hey kid,"

 Izuku doesn't recognize that it’s the hero trying to help, to be kind. Oh god, is he here to yell at me? To put a weak, quirkless Deku in his place? Is he here to kidnap me? What about Suteru? Do I leave [redacted] when [redacted] could be seriously injured? No, of course not, I’ll look for Suteru later. Suteru is safe. What abou-

Insert spinning aizawa drinking coffee then disappearing

 "Hey,” Shouta tries again, softer. Nothing. The kid's eyes flicker around the beach, never lingering on one thing longer than a second or two. 

 He looks scared, as if he was the meek prey surrounded by vicious lions, each feline licking their lips and stepping closer..

 Shouta sucks in a breath and quickly takes hold of the boy's wrist, guiding it over to the pulse on his neck. Still nothing. No reaction. He grimaces at the hyperventilating boy. Should I let go? He can't hear me, or he isn't acknowledging it’s me. Okay, Shouta, focus on grounding him.  

 The hero takes another shaky breath and drags his arm across the boy's back carefully, ready to pull away if it worsens. He draws his hand over to the boy's opposite shoulder. 

 The kid’s still hyperventilating.

 Without warning, Shouta pulls him in for a hug.

 He knew it was an illogical solution, one that could spiral the boy more. Yet, from the short times he's seen the boy he's noticed… things. Things only abused people show. The kid was quirkless, so it was probable. That didn't make it feel better at all. Shouta hates dealing with abused kids because they're… just, so fragile and sweet and skittish and- 

 And... it breaks his heart. Society is bullshit and this just proves it! Just- uuuggghhhh- Shouta bites back a groan. Abused kids are usually touch starved, and he was leaving enough room for the boy to jump out so it should be okay-

 But then again, despite being a teacher (and begrudgingly earning the nickname Dadzawa) he sucked ASS with kids. This was more of a Hizashi or Kayama thing, hell, even Fukukado could do better! 

 But, they weren't here.

 And he was.

 So, he would do what he needed to.

 He will help this child.

 "Can you hear me, Midoriya?" He asks gingerly. The boy doesn’t respond. Shouta sucks a breath in through his teeth, about to say something. 

 He stops when the kid opens his mouth.

 "Su...e...u…" the greenette wheezes. Shouta lifts an eyebrow.

 "Is that what your cat is named? Suheru?" He inquires, leaning back from the hug and allowing his hands to grip Midoriya’s shoulders. The mentioned boy shook his head slowly. "Su..teru.." He corrects. 

 "Suteru?" Shouta parrots. Midoriya nods shakily.  

 Okay, good job Shouta. He's calmed down enough for his cognitive skills to work, and he can talk. That's good. Good.

  "I watched Suteru make their way over–” Shouta turns his body slightly to the right, jerking his head in the direction– “there. We can look for them after you’ve calm down." 

 The kid heaves a sigh of relief, subconsciously relaxing into the hero's embrace. His head hits Shouta's chest and he winds his arms around the ravenheaded’s waist.

  Back to hugging, I see. Shouta mused, smirking. 

 The two sit like wordlessly for minutes on end, every now and then shifting to get more comfortable. Midoriya eventually speaks up when his breathing dies down and his heartbeat slows, shaking breaths and quiet sniffles heard in every word.

 “Thanks, Eraser, sir.”

“Shouta.” Midoriya looks up at Shouta from under the hero’s arm. “Shouta Aizawa.”

Midoriya beams. 

“And you’ll be the first, and best, quirkless hero, kid.”

Chapter Text

Izuku was not having a good day. 

First, he woke up later than he wanted, stubbed his toe, and got hit with flashbacks from yesterday - holy Japan! Suteru! And Aizawa! I can’t believe I did that; then, because of his clumsy ass, he almost fell on his face in front of the admittedly cute brunette. At the entrance to his dream school. Right after Bakugou told him to get out of the way. 

Izuku groans at the memory. 

He belatedly realizes, as he was sitting in his seat beside Bakugou, that she would probably make a good friend. 

She had a great personality and was very energetic! Sadly, Izuku probably wouldn’t be able to keep up with her, and in turn, she’d end up abandoning him. 

Oh well. 

Izuku slouches further into his seat. She was even nice enough to help me without knowing my name or quirk. 

He sulks harder. Bakugou scowls. 

If only life could be so-

“You there! The plain looking one with the unruly hair!” God not today . Izuku turns with a smile a tad too wide, which makes the one who called him out clear his throat awkwardly. 

“Having an unkempt appearance is not very hero-like! And stop that mumbling, it’s distracting everyone in the room from doing the best that they can!” He turns to face Present-Mic, but Izuku’s thoughts are elsewhere.  They even processed almost too quickly for him himself to catch. 

When he realizes he was called out, his face burns in embarrassment. 

Is this why Yagi told him not to mumble?

...There was nothing wrong with his mumbling; his mom even found it adorable!

Screw Yagi and his opinions!

Yagi. The kid with the glasses reminds him of Yagi . Izuku understandably chokes up. 

He’s similar to the number one hero. 

“W-why thank you; I try to emulate the top heroes of our society and how they strive to do good around every corner.”

“Oh! That wasn’t really a good thing.” Izuku blurts out before slapping his hand over his mouth. 

This stuns everyone, especially Present-Mic and Bakugou. Bakugou glares, and Izuku, not knowing what else to do, smiles back timidly. 

Glasses stammers, “W-what?” At Izuku’s insistence to not respond, Glasses puffs out his chest. “I will have you know that I am apart of the Ii-”

Izuku snaps. 

“You might think I’m rude for saying this, and by all means, vigilante meet villain, but I don’t care what family you’re in. You remind me of everything wrong with All Might, and it is not a compliment whatsoever.

“You, for one, don’t care about anyone but yourself. You would tell someone to do something for the ‘greater good’–” Izuku finger quotes–“only to turn out it was for personal gain.

“I’m tired of people like you." He turns back to the stage. "Present-Mic, can we continue the exam please?”

 Not waiting for a response, Izuku plops down in his seat from the emotionally draining experience and clocks out.

No one dares to bother him after that. 

After some hesitance, Mic draws everyone’s attention back to the screen and talks about how the point system works. Izuku, however, can’t pay attention, no matter how hard he tries. 

It was distressing, to say the least, but there was nothing he could do. 

They had finally been dismissed to their respective battle arenas, but just because Izuku is so fucking lucky, Mic rests his hand on Izuku’s shoulder right before he was able to get out the auditorium door.

 "Hey Little Listener, stay here for a moment." 

 Izuku tenses up. "What about the entrance exam? If I miss it–” 

 "Relax, relax! They won't start without you or me . Plus, this will only be for a teeny tiny minute,” the blonde reassures him, patting his shoulder.

Izuku flinches and the voice hero quickly retracts his hand. "S-sorry…" he breathes, subconsciously angling his feet toward the exit in case he needs to make a run for it.

"Calm down, Little Listener, don’t worry about it!" He grins, before settling his face into one of a more serious manner. "What's your deal with Y–” he coughs– "All Might?"

Izuku freezes, air refusing to escape his lungs. "I beg your p-pardon?" He asks, wincing when his voice cracks. 

 "Kid. If something happened between the two of you, you need to tell us. Just because he's the flashy number one hero doesn't mean he can escape the consequences." 

 Oh, how badly Izuku wanted to blurt everything out–

 He's just a quirkless kid. Don't mind him. His opinion is invalid. 

  He’s a liar.

 You're making this up.

 Sure kid, sure. Believe what you like. 

  You’re Quirkless, you can’t be a hero.  

 I bet he's looking for attention. 

 Hah! Nobody will believe a quirkless freak like you! Give it up while you're ahead!

 I'm sorry Izuku! 

 ...looking for attention.

 You can't be a hero. 

 I'm sorry Izuku!

  Quirkless . 

 One can not simply say you can be a hero without a quirk. 

 Without a quirk. 

 Looking for attention . 

 I'm s o r r y I z U ku- 

 Quirkless.

 Deku.

  ...consider what's realistic , young man.

 Pipe dream.

That's not very [plus ultra of you--] heroic, young Midoriya. Don't throw a tantrum over that thing.  

 Eat this !

 Quirkless.

 I'M S O R rY  Iz U kU-

 T h e y wo n ’t b e Li ev e y O u a nY w aY-

 "What was that?" Mic asks gently, his voice soft and low.

 He doesn't care, he doesn't care-

 Izuku bites his cheek.

 "Sh..ou..a.." He pleads, taking a defensive step back. The teacher hesitates.

 "Shouta, as in, my buddy Shouta Aizawa… ?" Mic asks tentatively, earning a curt nod from the greenette.

“Alrighty,” Mic clears his throat, “this is what we’re gonna do. I’m going to go get him, and you’ll stay right here.” Izuku has never been so happy to have an adult actually listen to him. “The test for Group B won’t, I repeat, will not, start, so don’t worry your little head about that, Little Listener,” screw that, I don’t want people waiting on me for something like this. 

Right as Mic walks out of the door, Izuku sees his opportunity and takes it. He, careful not to alert the teacher who might still be in the hallway, creaks open the door. 

No one. Excellent. 

Izuku madly sprints in the direction he thinks all the students have gone. Luckily, he only gets turned around twice; he didn’t want to keep the students waiting anymore than necessary. 

  "Man, Area A has already started. Why can't we, I dunno, just start already?"

 "Yeah, who's holding us up?"

 "Come onnn!"

 "Hurry up already!"

 "Come on, let us start…"

The rest of the examinees were obviously feeling antsy, bouncing on their feet. Izuku’s guilt kept gnawing at the corners of his mind for forcing the others to wait so long, but! he had managed to get away, so they wouldn't have to wait on him much longer!

I'm probably not going to make it in anyway.

Shut up. I'm going to get in and shove my victory so far up Yagi's ass he'll be tasting it next week!

You egotistical brat. Why didn't you just swallow his hair?

Because I didn't want to possess the quirk of a blonde asshole.

Why?

Because he was the self centered one, not–

You are though. Why are you so annoying? I bet Shouta hates you for being so weak. I wouldn't be surprised if he told UA not to enroll you.

But I'm going to be the first and best quirkless her-

 "Zoning out before an exam isn't very hero-like." Glasses reprimands him with a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. Izuku clams up. Why is someone touching me- okay, okay. Breathe. Follow the procedure…

Taking a deep breath, Izuku reaches his right hand across his chest and tries to push Glasses' hand off. It won't move? It won’t move it won’t move- 

He exhales, feeling for the thumb of his aggressor. Right hand. Izuku yanks. The shout of pain draws attention from the other examinees.

 "Assa–” Glasses wheezes, cradling his thumb– "ulting a fellow examinee before an ex–” he wheezes again– "am?! Who do you think you are?!"

 "I-" Holy shit I just did that- ohmygod- I should make sure he’s okay, right?

  "Are yo-"

"Start! Go, go, go!" A voice booms, startling everyone. Izuku sighs, that dumbass deserved it. He glances at Glasses' obvious pain, then shrugs when a glare is shot his way.

He does not, not at all snort at the other holding his hand above his head as they all shoot off.

Izuku looks up and meets the worried gaze of the blonde teacher he ran away from – his insides churn and twist because of his wrongdoing – before passing through the gate.

Izuku dashes forward, a new spring in his step. 

I won’t let Aizawa down!

I’m going to let Aizawa down. 

Izuku leaps, barely dodging a two pointer (Izuku guessed from the big number 2 the robot sported), and crashes to the floor. Even with the scrapes he’s accumulated since the beginning of the test, he still scrambles to stand back up; when he accomplishes that, he runs. 

Behind the safety of a building, Izuku pants with his hands on his knees. 

I’m not ready for this , he thinks as he watches the swarm of robots and students. 

However, something catches his eye. A laser?

Then he hears the panicked screeching following it. 

He slaps, and rests his hands on, his face. He ignores the worried glances he gets from the closest examinees. They might get in and he might not, so he doesn’t need to familiarize himself with  people who’ll, undoubtedly, despise quirkless people, he tells himself.

Instead, he focuses on the task at hand. 

If I’m going to be a hero, I have to be brave. I may be scared, hell, terrified even, but there are people out there who might be seriously hurt. 

He stares at the direction the laser came from, then connects the dots. 

He was the one who saved me from that one pointer earlier.

Izuku shakes his head to get focused. 

He might need my help. 

Determination fills him, and he decides to do what Yagi wouldn’t:  He dashes to help a person in need. 

Did he hear the Little Green Listener right?

Hizashi clears his throat, uncertain. He should trust the kid.  Shouta had a soft spot for him after all.

“Alrighty,” he forms his next sentence carefully, “this is what we’re gonna do. I’m going to go get him, and you’ll stay right here.” He emphasizes, knowing the infamous greenette would try to run off. 

“The test for Group B won’t, I repeat, will not, start, so don’t worry your little head about that, Little Listener.” 

When the door is barely shut behind Hizashi, he books it to the Teacher’s Lounge.  If Shouta could opt to avoid any human interaction, he would definitely be there.

Hizashi kicks open the door, which startles Snipe.  After wildly looking for, and zoning in on, Shouta’s sleeping bag, he gives an apologetic glance before speeding to the tired male.

When rushing over to his partner, he trips and ends up bonking heads with him.

Ignoring the other’s glare, he hurries to speak. “Shouta, dude, the Little Listener needs you right now. C’mon, we gotta go.”

“What kid?!” Shouta grunts out as Hizashi not-so-gently yanks him up, sleeping bag forgotten. Hizashi huffs before tugging harder.

“Y’know, the kid that you wouldn’t shut up about for the past week. The one you were minutes away from adopting? Ring any bells, Shou?”

Recognition flashes across his face and they both run around Snipe and out the door. “I did not  want to adopt him.” Denial is not just a river in Egypt, you know. 

By the time they get to the auditorium, Hizashi gets a bad feeling. His feeling is justified when he opens the doors.

“I swear he was right here! I promise you! He was right here! Right. Here!”

“I believe you. He’s probably already in his testing area.” 

Hizashi stops, then spins around to face him with sparkly tears in his eyes. Shouta sighs in defeat.

“Don’t-”

“SHOUTAAA!” He launches himself at the other, but the other dodges. This doesn’t stop his pursuits.

He’ll give into the hug eventually.

And he did. 

“No Homo,” Hizashi mutters “jokingly.” He probably deserved the smack on the head for that. “...No hetero?” He deserved that one too.

After splitting off from Shouta, the man who was capable of calming the stormy sea that was his thoughts, the green kiddo took the forefront.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

He actually looked very uncomfortable. 

Right as Hizashi is about to step in, however, the situation escalates. The gremlin dislocates his assaulter’s thumb. Holy Japan.

He wasn’t well-read on what to do in this circumstance, so he did the only thing he knew how to do.

“Start! Go, go, go!" He screeches, watching all the wannabe heroes jump and look up, some getting the message and bolting straight through the gates, while others only stare on in confusion. The little green listener sighs, glances back at the blue haired kid, shrugs, and runs off.

Shouta’s kid looks up and sees Hizashi looking worriedly, face shifting into a look of guilt and discomfort before passing through the gate.

I should talk to him about that later; along with other things, of course.

Especially about All Might.

Holy shit, Beach Kid.

Hizashi stares slack-jawed at the teenager Shouta had stolen, at the absolute monster this kid was, in awe.

Just what had Shouta been feeding this child?

Hizashi quickly makes his way down to where Chiyo is working her magic. 

That must have hurt, breaking all his bones like that.

The examinees who notice him rush through the doorway give him curious looks. He ignores them.

He also ignores the person who started the little rumpus with Green Bean.

That kid – Iida, right? – should be fine until the end of the test.

After all, he had someone else to worry about.