Chapter 358 - 12-13

Chapter 12

"Oh, come one, Asui! You can't seriously tell me nothing is going on between you three. I've seen the way you two look at him, and my romance radar is never wrong!"

Most of the class of 1-A was on their way back to their dorms, a small group women clustered around Tsuyu and Himiko. Mina was bent over at the waist while they walked, staring up at the froggy girl with a sly smirk spread across her pink lips.

Also nearby was an invisible woman, one Tooru Hagakure.

"Yeah! You three look so adorable together, and the way you two ran up to him all worried was so cute!" Hagakure hopped up and down, waving her hands up and down in excitement. At least Tsuyu assumed she was, based on the sleeves covering her arms waving around.

"First of all, call me Tsu, ribbit." Tsuyu ignored the squeal coming from the invisible woman at her verbal tick. "And second, there's nothing going on between us. We're just friends."

"Not for lack of trying…" She heard from her side. Tsuyu turned her head to see Himiko pouting, her arms crossed over her chest, her cheeks puffed out.

"Oh, so you two are looking to get with him~" Mina stood straight, her nose raised up proudly at her suspicions being confirmed correct.

In an instant, Mina was suddenly so close to Tsuyu that their noses were almost touching. She suppressed a shiver at the manic grin on the pink woman's face, her eyes demanding answers.

"Come on, now you have to give me the juicy details. How did you meet? Childhood friends? A Chance encounter? A knight in shining armor swooping in at just the right moment to make a daring rescue? Come on, tell me!"

"You're not going to leave us alone until we tell you, are you, ribbit?" Tsuyu met the gossip's gaze with a deadpan stare.

"Nope!"

Tsuyu sighed, accepting that no matter what she did, the pink girl would find out eventually, so she answered.

"Zuku and I have known each other since we were five."

"Childhood friends and nick names for each other?! You have to tell me how it went!" Mina actually squealed at the frog girl's words.

"We met at the doctor's office. Since I have an animal mutation quirk I have to go to a doctor to monitor my health, to make sure there are no adverse effects from the mixing of human and animalistic biology." Tsuyu felt her eyes drift into the middle distance, her mind getting lost in the memory. "It was my first visit, and I was nervous. Was there something wrong with me? Would I be able to live a normal life? Would an evil doctor try to take me to do horrific experiments on me like in those old movies?"

Everyone around her went silent as she told her tale.

"I was so nervous I sat in the waiting room chair barely able to think. Then along comes this boy, playing a bunch of videos about heroes from the internet on his mom's phone. He was playing a video about a now-retired hero called Oceanus saving a vacationing family from a giant squid."

Tsuyu felt the edges of her lips tip upwards as the memories flooded her with a familiar bout of nostalgia.

"We didn't live near each other, Zuku's mom had taken him all the way to our town in Aichi Prefecture to meet the doctor we use. Something about all the doctors near them being "ignorant quacks", ribbit."

She giggled a bit as she recalled just how animated Inko had been at the time, ranting about how none of the doctors she had brough him to in Musutafu knew what they were talking about.

"Our families got together every year to go on camping trips as a way to stay close to each other as friends, ribbit. I still remember our first trip. Zuku was finally able to let loose and have fun with his quirk, since there were no authorities nearby to stop us from using our them. We were having so much fun that he ran headfirst into a lake to catch a ball we were throwing for him."

Tsuyu's smile turned a bit more somber as the old guilt rang through her mind.

"Of course, none of us realized until it was too late that he couldn't swim."

Tsuyu heard as several people gasped nearby.

She took a few moments to regather her thoughts. She fought back a wave of tears when she felt a comforting hand land on her shoulder. She turned to see Himiko smiling, her own eyes watery. She had told Himiko this story years ago, even the part left unsaid.

That she had been the one to throw the ball.

Tsuyu reached a hand up and grasped the one on her shoulder, taking strength in having her friend nearby.

She must have been lost in her thoughts for too long, since a voice nearby spoke up.

"What happened next?" Uraraka had her hands raised, clasping over her mouth in horror.

Tsuyu blinked rapidly to erase the lingering wateriness.

"My dad jumped in to save him." She smiled proudly as she remembered him pulling the boy from the water with his tongue, ignoring how wet his clothes became in the attempt.

Her answer was met with a collective sigh of relief.

"Ever since then, we've all been really close family friends."

"Oh my gosh Tsu, that was so beautiful!" Mina cried out. The pink woman held tightly to Tooru, her concaved cheek implying that they were pressing their faces together tightly as tears fell freely from their eyes.

Tsuyu felt Himiko lift her hand up and wrap it around her other shoulder so that they were holding each other in a side hug. She felt the slightly taller girl press her cheek to the top of Tsuyu's head as the hug tightened.

"It really is. It gives me butterflies in my tummy every time I hear it. Just makes me want to bleed them both dry~." Tsuyu could tell that Himiko had a wide smile on her face, if the feeling of teeth digging into her hair was anything to go by.

"Bleed them dry?" The punk girl, Jiro, tilted her head in confusion.

"Toga! To speak of harming those you are close to is quite inappropriate, even if spoken hyperbolically!" The loud voice of Iida yelled out, his hand chopping robotically at the blond.

Tsuyu could feel Himiko nipping distractedly at her hair, so she spoke up in the blonde's stead.

"She wasn't speaking hyperbolically, Iida. She was quite literally expressing what she wants to do with Zuku and I, ribbit."

"W-what?!" The blue haired man seemed to stall, his hand freezing mid-swing.

"Himiko needs to drink blood like we need to drink water or eat food. Part of her quirk requires it to stay healthy. Normally she drinks from blood bags Zuku's mom gets, but she feeds on us pretty regularly."

Tsuyu squints in thought as something tickles the back of her mind. Or more specifically, the back of her head. She pulls away from Himiko's gnawing of her hair.

"Speaking of, Himiko? When was the last time you drank some blood?"

The blonde woman flinched, drawing in on herself, unable to meet Tsuyu's eyes.

"W-well, I was able to get some from Izu-kins this morning…" He eyes snapped up in an almost panic. "B-but not too much! I knew that he would need to be healthy for our first day of class, so I only took a bit, just a nibble really!"

Tsuyu's eyes narrowed further.

"So you didn't grab a blood bag from the mini fridge?"

Himiko was wringing her hands now. Her eyes were dashing around, likely looking for some form of escape from the interrogation.

"I-I figured, now that you were both here, I wouldn't need to drink so many of them." Her eyes finally met the froggy woman's glare. "Y-you know those things taste awful compared to you two!"

Tsuyu sighed, a wistful smile spreading across her face as she gently grabbed Himiko's hands.

"I know you don't like them, Himi, but you have to drink them every once in a while. With us being here at UA, there's only so much we can give." Tsuyu made sure she had Himiko's eyes on hers. "That said, neither of us want you to hurt yourself, so you feel you need a little extra, you can always ask. Just please promise me you'll drink some of the bags, so you don't starve?"

Himiko's lips quivered as tears fell from her eyes. She grabbed Tsuyu into crushing hug, rocking them back and forth.

"Ok.. but I want an extra serving from you two this weekend! We're gonna spend a whole day as a bloody cuddle pile to make up for it!"

Tsuyu smiled as she returned the hug.

"Deal."

Their moment was interrupted by a shuttering noise. Tsuyu looked to the side to see Mina holding her phone in their direction. She caught a muttered "So cute~" before she felt her tongue fire out of her mouth, hitting the back of the phone and reeling it towards herself.

"Hey, give that back! No, don't delete the picture, you were having such an adorable moment I had to catch it!"

Tsuyu played a fantastic game of keep away from the acid girl, her fingers swiftly deleting the photo from Mina's phone before the pink woman could snatch it back.

Mina looked down at her phone, only to collapse to her knees, a wailing "Nooooo…" trailing from her lips as she realized the romantic moment had been removed from her device.

Jiro sauntered up to her with a giggling Hagakure, clearly finding Mina's exaggerated antics amusing.

"Well, I'm rooting for you two." The invisible woman cheered. "Hopefully neither of you have any hard feelings if the other manages to get with Midoriya. And if that little moment is anything to go by, if neither of you get with him, at least you have each other!"

"That won't be a problem, ribbit."

As the two women looked at Tsuyu in bemusement, Himiko giggled.

"Of course not, silly! We're both going to be with him!"

"B-both?!" Jirou choked out.

"Yep." Tsuyu herself giggled. "We agreed a while back, that if either of us are going to date Zuku, we're both going to date him. We're going to be one big family, ribbit."

"H-how is that supposed to work?!" Jiro's eyes were wide, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

Hagakure squealed in excitement.

"We were talking about our feelings for him a year ago, and almost came to blows over who would date him first-"

"When I found out about a nifty little arrangement online!" Himiko finished Tsuyu's sentence with a wide smile on her face. "Polyamory!"

"Poly-whaty-now?" Jiro seemed even more confused.

"It's a type of relationship where people have more than one partner at the same time, with knowledge and consent of everyone involved, ribbit."

"Ah, so you and Himiko intend to share Midoriya between the two of you?" This time, Yaoyorozu stepped forward with a question.

…They had long left Iida behind, his mind frayed and unable to compute with all this talk of romance and dating multiple people.

"More than that! All three of us will be together. Izu-kins and Tsu, Izu-kins and me… even Tsu and me~" Tsuyu felt warmth spread across her face the more her blond friend spoke, her cheeks burning as Himiko put such a… carnal feel into her words as she spoke of the two of them being together.

"Oh my…" Yaoyorozu put a hand over her mouth demurely, her own cheeks gaining a pink hue.

The two separated, forcing the procession back towards the dorms. After giving everyone a moment to digest their admission, Tsuyu spoke.

"So… yeah, ribbit. Himiko and I are going to try and convince Izuku to be with both of us." She sighed "Haven't exactly figured out how we're going to do it yet."

Mina abruptly sprang up, facing the two woman with and affronted look.

"What?! You just go up to that hunk of a man and demand that he be with the two of you!" She hesitated for a moment. "Well, maybe not demand. You make it clear he would be an idiot to not want to be with you two. You three look so cute together it would be an absolute crime if he said no!"

Tsuyu winced slightly. "It's… not exactly that easy with him.

She shared a glance with Himiko. They both let out a shared groan.

"Zuku has a bit of a self-confidence issue me and Himiko have been trying to help him get over for years now, ribbit." Her gaze fell to the ground as they walked, a frown spreading across her lips. "We're worried that if we spring this on him he may have some kind of panic attack."

Hagakure bent her whole body to the side. Possibly in some in some sort of facsimile of a head tilt.

"Self-confidence issues? He destroyed a Zero Pointer and practically his entire exam site, he's probably one of the strongest people in our class! Why would he have issues with confidence?"

"Zuku's had some… issues with the schools he went to when he was growing up, ribbit. You know how I mentioned before that our families don't live near each other."

Tsuyu took in a deep breath.

"We never went to the same schools, those camping trips I mentioned were the only times we saw each other. He tried to hide it, but we could still see it. He got less and less excited about talking about his quirk, he sometimes flinched whenever we reached to touch him, and he always got cagey about how his classes were going, ribbit."

She clenched her fists in frustration.

"Every time I tried to dig, he closed up on us, insisting that nothing was happening."

Tsuyu felt her clenched hands be wrapped in a gentle embrace. She looked up, meeting Himiko's comforting gaze.

"It wasn't until he found Himiko two years ago, ribbit, that we realized what was really going on."

She fought against a familiar sense of rage and nausea, pushing her words out. Zuku would probably hate her for telling them, but she knew that she needed to do it anyways. That they needed to understand.

But Tsuyu's gut twisted as she tried to get the final words out. To explain what that awful school was doing to her Zuku. The things that he, even now, refused to talk out against. To admit happened. The things that even now went undiscovered.

All the dark thoughts over what her lovable, sweet man had gone through curdled her stomach, making it a struggle to get the words out.

…It was a good thing she had someone else on her side.

"He was being bullied, and that awful, disgusting school encouraged it." Himiko snarled out.

She actually growled, pulling a pair of knives from somewhere on her person. Everyone but Tsuyu widened their eyes, some backing away in fear. Something about how she held the knives, bared her teeth, set everyone on edge.

"They used the fact that his quirk heals him as an excuse to let their students "practice their quirks" on him. During gym, they would make him be the only one to go without a shirt. "Didn't want him to risk ruining the uniform the school so graciously gave him", they said."

She was crying now. Her snarls were moments away from becoming sobs, her lips twitching, her breaths heavy.

"No… they just didn't want any evidence of what they did to him. Injuries he could heal, but a damaged uniform would make it's way back to his mom." Her growling grew in force as she spoke. "They all laughed as they hurt him. Cut him, bruised him, everything short of breaking his bones. Those always took longer to heal."

Himiko's pupils narrowed to slits, likened to those of a cat that was ready to hunt.

"I had to threaten to stab most of them to get them to stop."

Tsuyu rested a hand on one of Himiko's knife-clad fists, making sure she was within the woman's line of sight the whole time. She watched as the blonde's anger shattered, sobs breaking from her mouth as she hugged the froggy woman as if her life depended on it.

Tsuyu spoke softly into the grieving woman's ear, loudly enough for the others to hear. "And even after all of that, he found such kindness in his heart that he helped a random girl in an alley, just as broken as he was-"

The blond girl let out a loud, sobbing noise, Tsuyu feeling a wet patch growing in the shoulder of her uniform.

"…and helped put her back together."

Tsuyu looked at the gathered crowd, eyes widening as she realized it wasn't just the women who had lingered, listening to their story.

Kirishima's head was pointed towards the sky, covering his leaking eyes with an arm as he cried out about how manly the story was.

Kouda had his face stuffed into the fluff of a white bunny rabbit.

Tokoyami stood under a tree near the group, seemingly resting in the shadows the leaves cast.

Todoroki and Mezo were visible walking away from the group… far closer than they should have been considering when they had stopped.

Tsuyu could just make out that Mezo had one of his arm tentacles aimed towards them, shaped like an ear.

 "I think we've all had enough tears for one day, ribbit. Let's get back to the dorm so we can relax."

At Tsuyu's words, Mina perked her head up in realization.

"I took a look in the freezer earlier, and found just the thing for a post-cry treat!"

She took a moment to let the mystery set it before crying out in excitement.

"Ice cream!"

Izuku wandered through the university grounds, writing word after word in his notebook as theories continued to flood his mind.

Well, that and the weird conversation he had with his homeroom teacher.

Normally when his teachers caused him pain or ignored the other students "practicing their quirks" on him they encouraged more of it or simply laughed.

Eraserhead did not of that. He simply advised Izuku to figure out how his quirk really worked with what he figured was a relatively reasonable request.

…Relative to his old teachers anyways.

Then he found Izuku later and… promised he would help him figure it out.

Izuku paused his writing as that crossed his mind. Something about a teacher actually helping him was confusing. For years, ever since the doctors labeled him as quirkless, and even after his quirk came in, his teachers never offered to help him.

Looking back on it, Izuku could admit that they seemed to single him out from his other classmates, treating him like he was… lesser.

It was hard to accept, but years of Tsuyu's friendship, and the last two years of Himiko's brash forwardness made it impossible to deny. That the treatment he received his whole life by his teachers and fellow students was harassment.

His two friends always insisted that it went beyond the term 'harassment', that it was something else entirely.

Izuku shook his head at the thought. He couldn't believe it was that bad.

He refused to believe that his oldest friend was a… a bully.

He closed his eyes and hung his head. Tsuyu's words from years ago ringing in his head.

He's not your friend anymore. He hasn't been for a long time.

"That's right. He's not Kacchan. Now he's just Bakugou."

Izuku brought a hand up to his chest as he felt an old ache from a scar in the center of his torso, from a time when his quirk had still left scars behind. He was thankful that it wasn't long before his healing could remove even those after a time.

It was just unfortunate that it didn't heal ones that had already become scars.

Maybe with this new discovery he could though?

Izuku was pulled from his thoughts when he realized that he was standing in front of the 1-A dorms.

His mind went to his two best friends.

Tsu was probably annoyed that he took so long to get back, she always did like curling up against him while he was transformed into his larger wolf form after a hard day of training.

Himiko was most likely waiting on the other side of the door, ready to lunge at him as he entered. He did promise to give her some blood after classes today, and she was likely getting impatient.

He smiled as he reached for the door. Thinking about his friends always did wonders for him whenever he was in a dour mood.

As he entered, his smile widened as he caught sight of Himiko sitting on the couch with Tsuyu in her lap, sipping on one of the packs of blood they kept in the mini fridge in her room.

They were both watching a bunch of their classmates as they seemed to be playing some sort of fighting game.

He chuckled as Kaminari threw his hands into the air, a cry of dismay escaping him as Kirishima cheered in victory.

Himiko's ear twitched as he closed the door behind him, her head turning to see him, a wide smile spreading across her face.

"Izu-kins!" She seemed like she was about to get up from the couch to greet him, only to realize at the last second that she currently had a content frog still sitting in her lap.

In lieu of leaping at him, she reached her hand not holding her afternoon snack towards him with what could only be described as 'grabby hands', a pout aimed in his direction.

Izuku shook his head at her antics as he walked over and sat next to his two friends. Himiko wrapped her free hand around his arm, humming happily as she brought the blood bag back up to sip on.

He noticed absently that Tsuyu seemed to be focused on an image on her phone. He managed to catch a familiar glimpse of green and yellow on the screen before she put it away and smiled up at him.

"Hey, Zuku. What took you so long, ribbit?"

"Sorry about that, Tsu, Himi. When I went to report the, uh… peephole, Dean Nezu requested I go to his office." Izuku still hesitated to say the crude word, but at least he didn't stutter this time.

Tsuyu tilted her head, bringing a finger up to her chin.

"Really, ribbit? What did he want to talk about? Was it something to do the Aizawa's treatment towards you in the Quirk Assessment Test?"

"Yeah, is he gonna be punished?!" Himiko interjected.

"W-well, in a way, I guess?" Izuku pulled his gaze down to his notebook, flipping over to a page filled with his recent notes. "He mostly just asked how my first day went."

Sitting nearby, one of Kyoka Jiro's earphone jacks twitched as the registered his words. She turned towards them with a disbelieving expression.

"I'm sorry, did I just hear that correctly? Did you just say Nezu, the Dean of UAU, called you to his office just to ask, "how your day went"?" Her question drew the attention of many of the people playing the gathered in the living room.

"I-I mean, not just that…" Izuku scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "B-besides, he was probably just asking to check in on me because of what happened during the entrance exams. To make sure I still didn't intend to bringing any legal actions against UA."

"Legal actions?" Kaminari asked. "Why would you take legal actions against the school? What happened during the entrance exam?"

"T-there was sort of an accident towards the end of my test…" Izuku pointedly did not meet his two best friends' gaze.

"An accident, ribbit?" He winced at Tsuyu's words. "You call almost drowning in your own blood an accident?! Ribbit ribbit."

"Oh crap, Tsuyu only ever loses control of her verbal tic like that when she's really agitated."

"Tsu, I-"

"Hey guys!" Everyone turned to see Uraraka exiting from the kitchen, a mug of what smelled to Izuku like hot cocoa held between her hands. Her blush marks grew a little brighter as everyone's attention fell on her. "Are you guys talking about the entrance exams?"

"Yeah, we were wondering why Midoriya would-" Jiro was cut off as Uraraka started speaking excitedly.

At the mention of green haired man, something seemed to go off in Uraraka's mind, suddenly unable to contain her excitement over what she had managed to catch glimpses of during their test.

"You should have seen him! He was all bam, pow, claw, bite, roar! The way he tore through the robots was amazing!" She seemed to have a sparkle in her eyes as she spoke.

Izuku could feel his face burning as she continued.

"And the way he blew away that Zero Pointer! I couldn't believe my eyes!"

"Wait hold on-"

"He's the one who-"

"THAT'S SO MANLY!"

"I'm sorry, what happened, exactly?" Yaoyorozu, who sat next to Jiro while sipping on a cup of tea, asked. Her brows scrunched up in bemusement as she looked around at the excited students.

"You don't know?!" Kaminari asked, dumbfounded. "I'm pretty sure every exam site heard and felt it when it happened!"

"Yeah, all the buildings and windows were shaking in my exam site." Sero said.

"Mine too"

"Yeah, it was insane!"

"I felt like I was going to go deaf when I heard it…" Jiro muttered, one of her jacks twirled around a finger.

Izuku winced at her words. With her enhanced healing, he very likely could have caused permanent damage to her hearing. Before he could apologize, Yaoyorozu spoke.

"My exams were completed at an earlier date on account of being a recommendation student."

"Hold up, Yaomomo!" Ashido sprang up from her seat and slammed her hands on the nearby table.

"Y-yaomomo?"

"This whole time you were a recommendation student and didn't say anything?!" Ashido cried out, her eyes watering.

Something about the look seemed to unsettle the raven haired woman. She shifted nervously, her eyes struggling to meet those of her pink skinned classmate.

"W-well, you see, I haven't had much experience with having school friends, and didn't want to imply there were any form of difference between us. I was hoping we could spend more time as simple 'classmates' before it were brought to anyone's attention… and that we could become friends before then."

"Oh, so that's why? Ok!"

Yaoyorozu's gaze snapped up, seeing the tears gone from the pinkette's eyes, a happy go lucky smile on her face. "O-ok?"

"Of course we'll be your friends! It doesn't matter if you got in on recommendation." Ashido looked around to everyone sitting nearby. "Isn't that right, guys?!"

"Of course!"

"Yep!"

"As if it needed to be said."

"What kind of man would I be if I said no to that?!"

Unshed tears sprung into the taller woman's eyes as she glanced between everyone in the living room.

Her gaze returned to the grinning Ashido.

"See, Yaomomo? We're already friends!"

Yaoyorozu sniffled, bringing a handkerchief up to wipe away the tears before they could fall. "Thank you, Ashido."

"Call me Mina!" The pink girl reminded.

"Yes, of course. Thank you… Mina."

Izuku watched on as they all had this moment for her, his own eyes watering at the sight.

…only for it to get interrupted as a certain blonde raised a hand.

"Since the moment is over, weren't we originally talking about Midoriya breaking a Zero Pointer and possibly suing the school?"

He fell to the floor, crying out in pain as the jack that Jiro jabbed into his eye retracted.

"The moment wasn't over, dumbass!" The punk girl glared at Kaminari as he rolled around on the ground in pain.

Jiro turned her ire away from the man as she felt a hand land on her shoulder. She looked up to see Yaoyorozu smiling at her.

"I appreciate you trying to help, Jiro, but I believe he is correct. We have gone quite off-topic, and I am still curious as to what happened during your exams." Her attention turned to the green-haired man sitting nearby. "Would you mind explaining, Midoriya, as you seem to be at the center of this discussion."

Izuku's eyes widened as everyone's attention returned to him.

"U-um, well, I sort of howled at the Zero Pointer until it… fell apart?" Izuku scratched his cheek sheepishly, unable to meet anyone's gaze.

Everyone exchanged confused glances. His lackluster explanation didn't really give them much in terms of details. Fortunately, Uraraka was willing to chime in.

"Fell apart? Fell apart?!" Incredulity was clear in her voice. "That robot was swinging its fist down on us, about to crush us, and you destroyed its whole arm before blowing the rest of it apart!"

Izuku felt his cheeks warm as he caught her awed gaze.

"I wouldn't say I destroyed it…"

"Midoriya, by the time you finished howling, the entire thing was in tiny pieces, it was amazin'!"

"Pardon the interruption, Uraraka, but the way you describe it implies you were there at the time?" Yaoyorozu politely questioned.

Uraraka blinked, turning to the raven haired woman.

"Oh, yeah I was there." Her blush marked reddened in embarrassment. "I uh, I was trapped under some rubble nearby at the time… it's my fault he got hurt attacking it."

Uraraka's blush disappeared, and her eyes turned down with a hint of guilt.

"Are you saying Midoribro faced the Zero Pointer to rescue you?" At her nod, Kirishima could only cry out, "SO MANLY!"

"Did you say he got hurt doing it?" Kaminari asked with a grimace on his face.

"I-it wasn't that bad; I just pushed my throat too hard by howling louder than I usually do!" Izuku tried to downplay the incident, not looking to worry any of his classmates.

"Izuku Midoriya."

…It was just unfortunate that he had forgotten that his two best friends were sitting nearby, and if the tone and use of his full name was anything to go by, a certain green haired frog was not happy at his attempt to dismiss just how badly he had hurt himself.

He turned his head slowly, unable to hide a grimace. He fully expected to get one of Tsuyu's rare scolding lectures usually directed towards her younger siblings when they were lying.

…Only to gulp in shame as he saw the tears in her eyes. Words from that day came unbidden to his mind.

Izuku, the thought of losing you too…

His mother's words reminded him that he hadn't justgotten hurt, but also how badly he had worried those around him. While he had thought they had moved past it, Tsuyu's tears held a lingering pain that told him that it clearly still bothered her.

"We're going to have to talk about it later…"

He sighed, turning back towards his fellow students.

"Ok, it was actually pretty bad. It, uh… basically tore my throat apart putting that much power into it." He brought a hand up to his throat, shaking slightly at the memory. The pain before he collapsed, that feeling of being unable to breathe as he inhaled more and more blood…

Kaminari scrunched his eyebrows. "So… what, you were coughing blood or something?"

"More like vomiting it."

Izuku's words stunned the room into utter silence. Unable to stand the awkward silence, he looked around for an excuse to leave as he felt a rush of emotions threatening to overwhelm him. His eyes landed on the notebook he held in his lap.

"I uh… I think I'm gonna go." He held up his notebook for everyone to see. "I need to go finish writing down my notes. Mr. Aizawa is expecting a report from me by the end of the week, and I want to make sure I get everything down now before I forget."

So saying, he stood up and entered the stairs leading to the upper floors instead of the elevators leading to either side of the dorms.

Tsuyu watched as one of her best friends left. She felt a sharp pang in her heart, wanting to both berate the man for ever trying to minimize his pain and to tie him down and hug him until he understood that he mattered just as much as everyone else.

She could feel Himiko's arms shaking as she held her, likely sharing her exact thoughts.

She noticed Uraraka get up from the couch and rush towards the women's side elevator, likely heading to her room. Tsuyu barely caught a glimpse of one of her cheeks, her eyes hidden by her longer bangs.

"Is she crying?"

Before she could think too deeply into the brunette girls feelings, she heard her phone's notification tone go off, that of a frog croaking. She looked down to see a text from Izuku.

I'll be on the roof if you want to talk.

Tsuyu turned her head, ready to show Himiko the screen, only to realize the blonde woman had read it over her shoulder. They shared a look before nodding to each other.

She turned towards the rest of the gathered people.

"Sorry for stepping away so soon after that, but I think we should turn in too, ribbit."

Several of them shared worried glances, before Yaoyorozu spoke.

"Ok. I'm unsure if I would be able to help, but if any of you need someone to talk to, please feel free to let me know." She spoke with a soft smile.

With the sounds of several "me toos" and "whatever you needs" following them, Tsuyu and Himiko headed towards the stairs Izuku exited from.

The stairs were connected to both sides of the dorms, the doors held closed by scanners coded to each student's school IDs, separated by gender. While one could use the elevators to ring a specific dorm room to get access, the two of them didn't need to get to the men's dorms.

At the top of the stairs was a door that led out onto a roof one level shorter than the rest of the dorms.

As Tsuyu and Himiko stepped out, they noticed that night had come, and the moon shone above in just the right way that it shined down on the rooftop, not blocked by the raised level the dorm rooms inhabited.

In the center of the moon's glow, the two saw a large furry form curled in on itself, it's back facing them. Its green fur seemed to dance as if caught in a non-existent breeze, faint wisps of silver light shining but fading away mere centimeters from the soft looking fuzz.

Tsuyu walked around, finding the large wolf's eyes and muzzle covered by its shaggy tail. She knelt down onto her knees and began to rub a hand behind one of the adorable ears atop his head and heard a reluctantly pleased grumble escape the hidden lips of the large, transformed form of Izuku Midoriya.

She noticed the glow coming from him intensify and laid her free hand on his back.

"Please don't, Zuku, ribbit." The glow froze. "Please just let Himiko and I talk for a bit?"

She watched as his ears tilted until they were laid back across his head. She recognized this from the multiple times she witnessed him be scared while they were younger. From their parents scolding them for running around the house, to his phase where he was afraid of thunder, she sighed as she continued to scratch his head.

"We're not mad Zuku." One ear tilted slightly in her direction. "I know you'll listen, ribbit, and you always say the right things to make us feel better, but…"

She met Himiko's gaze, an understanding smile met her pleading eyes. Himiko knelt down, reaching out a hand to help pet and comfort their best friend.

"But I think that this one time, we need to speak our minds without your usually dorky self making us feel like everything is going to be ok. I-is that ok, Izu-kins?"

Both girls watched with bated breath as the large animal-man seemed to absorb their words. They were worried he would continue to shut them out, only for him to lift his head and tail from the ground.

It was clear by the redness of his eyes that he had been crying, but he tilted his head towards the opening against his side. As the two girls laid against him, he curled his head and tail around them, his head resting across Tsuyu's lap and his tail held in Himiko's grasp.

The three laid under the moon in companiable silence, simply enjoying each other's presence. As they staired up to the shining moon, only a few nights away from being full, the three fell further into relaxation.

Tsuyu let the silence drag on for a bit, before sighing tiredly.

"We've been friends for a long time, ribbit." Both sets of eyes turned towards her. "I have to say they've probably been the happiest of my life."

She chuckled lightly.

"Which probably isn't saying much, ribbit, since I've known you most of my life." Tsuyu smiled as memories passed through her mind's eye, only to drop as recent events came back to her. "For years I thought things were wonderful. That we would both become heroes and live a happily ever after."

She left out certain fantasies. Of them getting a home together and of little tadpoles pitter pattering though said home.

Thoughts for later.

"But as the years went on something changed. You didn't seem as happy. As driven." She felt the fuzzy ears droop. "It wasn't until Himiko joined our little friendship that I found out why. That those- those awful people were… they were-"

She took a shuddering breath.

"I was overjoyed to hear when she got them to back off, ribbit."

Izuku's ears shot up in surprise, looking to Himiko. She giggled sheepishly, hiding her face behind his bushy tail.

"Yep, it was all me! And I didn't even have to follow up on any of my threats!"

When Izuku started to growl as if to admonish the unrepentant woman, Tsuyu lightly batted him on the head.

"Focus, ribbit. We can talk about that later."

Izuku shook his head like a dog shaking off dust, before chuffing, resting his head back down for Tsuyu to hug.

"Where was I?"

"The bullies leaving him alone after I threatened to stab them."

"Thank you, Himiko." Tsuyu blinked her eyes, before narrowing them at the blonde. "We will be having words about that at some point."

"What?! I wouldn't do it now!"

"So you would have done it then, ribbit?"

A light chuffing noise below Tsuyu distracted her from disciplining an unruly cat. She looked at Izuku, the chuffing coming as an odd rhythmic pattern which she recognized as him laughing while in his transformed state.

She decided to let Himiko off the hook for now, and continued.

"It's funny, ribbit. We've only known her a couple of years, and yet…" She met the vampire's gaze. "and yet it feels like we've know her our whole lives."

Himiko's breath hitched, tears beading at the edges of her eyes, her complexion rapidly turning red. They smiled.

"Up until that point, I had been worried you might give up on being a hero, ribbit. You trained less, talked less, and buried yourself in your notebooks." When the large wolf's gaze seemed to take on a candor of guilt, Tsuyu scratched him behind the ears just the way he liked. "But then you started talking again. You got more and more excited about training with me and Himiko."

She moved the hand not scratching his ears down, rubbing under the bottom of his muzzle. She giggled when he let out a groan, feeling a light shifting behind her and Himiko, likely one of his legs kicking as she scratched a really good spot.

"And then you came to us, saying that you had gotten a trainer." Her scratching slowed, before coming to a stop. "I was skeptical at first. It's hard to imagine a random training scout would find people like… like us."

As far as the reduction of bigotry had advanced since the advent of quirks, much of it still existed to that day. From discrimination towards quirks with higher powers, to those who exhibited quirks that some called villainess, to those with… mutations that leaned more heavily towards their animal counterparts like hers.

So what if her mouth was wider than most? Or that her hands were larger most women's? Or that her hunched spine made it hard for her to stand straight? Or even-

She felt a hand rest over the one she had under Izuku's head. Tsuyu turned her head to see Himiko smiling at her, squeezing her hand to let her know she wasn't alone.

"That's right. They don't care what my quirk makes me look like." She blushed slightly as a smile spread across her lips. "They even said they like it…"

Tsuyu coughed lightly, fighting to keep her mind on track.

"Only to find out that All Might of all people was the one who scouted you, ribbit ribbit ribbit." Her verbal tick came out as a chuckle. "After that meeting, I knew-"

She sniffled.

"I knew that my Zuku, the one I met in that doctor's office so many years ago was back." Tsuyu felt her throat bob as she fought back a sob, and yet tears fell. "I knew that dream of us being heroes would finally come true, ribbit."

She giggled as Izuku lifted his head up and licked her cheeks, trying to wipe away her tears.

"Oh, stop it!" She reached down, trying and failing to push that slimy tongue away from her face(Not that she tried very hard). "These are happy tears, and you know it, ribbit! You don't need to wipe these away, you goofball."

After a few moments of attacking Tsuyu's cheeks, even managing to land a few hits against Himiko's tears, he relented. She resumed the scritches as she regain her composure.

"I thought everything was going to be ok, ribbit." She fought to stop the shaking that threatened to take control of her hands. "But then… but then-"

Tsuyu's voice hitched. She felt Himiko's hand take hers again. She met the golden gaze of her friend, and nodded towards her.

Himiko moved the hand grasping Tsuyu's up, rubbing the top of the man's snout. Her smile was so sad when she spoke.

"But then we heard you had gotten hurt in your exam, Izu-kins."

Tsuyu wasn't sure if it was because the way Himiko spoke her little nickname for him so softly, or if it was how she could show physically her emotions on her face in way Tsuyu feared she'd never be able to. Whatever it was, the large predator they lay against began to shake, tears falling from his eyes.

"We were so worried when we heard, but it wasn't until Uraraka told us exactly how badly you were hurt that we became scared. Scared that you wouldn't be able to follow in your dream. That you hurt yourself so bad, we wouldn't be able to be heroes together."

Tsuyu finally managed to get the fly out of her throat by this point.

"After the entrance exam, we never really… talked about it, ribbit. I know you said that you were ok, ribbit, but… but…"

Her grip tightened on his large furry head as a sob tore from her.

"We weren't ok!"

Izuku's eyes widened at her declaration, and a burning lump formed in his gut as he realized how royally he had screwed up. He had been told throughout his life that he had a heart built for self-sacrifice for the sake of others, and he honestly couldn't disagree.

He knew that the true purpose of the hero was to help others before all else, even to the detriment of the hero themselves.

He had always known that, if something were to happen to him, that he would leave people who cared about him behind. He had accepted that as long as they were ok, that they had the chance to live on after him, that he would surely be satisfied as a hero.

Though he had decided to focus his career on being a rescue hero, part of him always knew that if someone needed him, he would do anything he could to help them.

It was what All Might did, wasn't it? The man threw away his hero career along with a large portion of his internal organs to protect the people of Japan, possibly even people close to him. Surely that was the right way to be a hero, right?

And yet…

And yet, something about the way Himiko's voice trembled when she spoke of him being hurt, of how Tsu's voice broke when she admitted they weren't ok rattled something in him.

He always thought that as long as they were safe, as long as they could live long, happy lives, he would be ok with doing whatever it took to protect them… Even if it cost him his career, or worse, his life.

…AND YET.

This unfamiliar feeling warred with his pre-existing ideals, managing to force a single thought his waring mind.

"What if something happened to them, and I was the one left behind to live my life without them?"

With barely a thought a bright silver light flashed over Izuku's form. Before either woman could react or fall back as the large form behind them disappeared, he wrapped them both in his arms. His grip was tight, unwilling to let either of them go.

He felt both women stiffen in his arms, but as far as Izuku was concerned, the time to listen was over.

"I am so sorry."

He felt the two women stiffen in his grasp.

"I had it in my mind that being a hero meant that, no matter what I did, no matter what I sacrificed, that everyone around me being alright would make it ok, but-" He took in a shuddering breath. "but with what you just told me, I realized… that I hadn't considered what it would be like from your perspective."

Tsuyu and Himiko seemed to relax in his arms, wrapping him up in a three way hug.

"If I lost you two, I don't know what I would do."

Izuku's tears continued to fall as he felt his best friends shed their own onto his shoulders.

The trio leaned into each other for several minutes as they let their emotions run through their tears.

Tsuyu was the first to speak.

"Just promise us, ribbit"

Izuku leaned back, meeting her black, yet beautiful eyes. "Anything".

"I know that you can't promise that you will stay safe, to not risk your life to help people, ribbit." She smiled through her tears. "but please promise us. That you will stay alive?"

"Promise that you won't leave us?" Izuku felt Himiko mumble into his shoulder.

Izuku hugged them even tighter.

"I promise. I would never leave you two. You're my bestest friends in the whole wide world." He gulped. "Just so long as you promise the same thing."

He felt the two women smile into his shoulders, both managing a well-timed "Deal".

The trio continued to hug each other under the moon light. Eventually, Izuku changed into his wolf form, his two friends cuddling into his warm fur to sleep the night away.

Chapter 13

As Ochako passed through the threshold of the elevator, she fought to keep herself from slamming the button to close the door.

She forced herself to stand motionless as she waited to be brought up to her floor, managing to keep her expression still as she crossed the hall and entered her dorm room.

It was as she locked the door that she felt the first wave of shivers spread across her body.

She felt her back hit the door as she wrapped her arms around herself. Slowly, she slid down until she was seated on the ground.

"I uh… I think I'm gonna go."

Her legs curled up to her torso as she recalled Midoriya's words, and the look on his face. The pain that crossed his features as he recalled the cost he paid to save her.

…The consequences of her inability to protect herself.

"It's my fault he got hurt." Ochako could feel pinpricks at the edges of her eyes, barely registering the tears as they fell. "A quirk that could remove the gravity of anything I touch, and he almost died because I couldn't move a damned rock!"

She pushed her face between her knees, hoping the pressure would stimy the flow of tears running down her cheeks.

Ochako's shaking intensified as she realized the full extent of what she had done. Not only had she bragged about the fact that he had hurt himself, not only had she forced him to relive something she should have known would be traumatic, but she had also forced him to do so in front of half of their class.

"I'm a terrible person."

A sob escaped her lips at the thought flashed through her mind.

She didn't know how long she sat against the door crying, but eventually the awkwardness of the position created an ache in her legs that forced her to stand, lest they fall asleep.

Ochako forced herself towards the on-suite bathroom.

It wasn't very large, just a sink, toilet, and a shower stall. Each dorm room came with an attached bathroom for those who were comfortable using the larger baths on the first floor with other people around.

"Probably also for people whose quirks come from their sweat or some other part of their body." Ochako's brow scrunched as she considered types of quirks that would make bathing difficult. "I bet Midoriya would know, he seems to know a lot about quirks…"

At random points throughout the day, she had caught the green haired man muttering as he wrote into that notebook he always seemed to carry with him. If even a quarter of what she had heard from him was correct, then there was no telling how much he knew about quirks in general.

Her mind drifted from his mutterings to the focused looks he got on his face as he scribbled, the look of awe as he watched their classmates reveal their quirks during Mr. Aizawa's tests… Even the look of excited confidence as he himself walked up to the line to perform his own tests.

She recalled that look of feral glee she had caught glimpses of during the entrance exam, the ferocity he exhibited as he tore the robots apart, even the form of his muscles as the sweat forced the uniform to fit tighter than-

Ochako rapidly shook her head, feeling as her permanent blush marked warmed her face.

"Bad Chako, can't think about him like that." Her eyes drifted down, her fists clenching as she fought back another wave of tears. "Not after what you did…"

She reached into the shower stall, starting the water to wash away the grime from the long day. As she left the stream to warm, she began to disrobe.

It was as she removed her skirt, leaving her in just her underwear that she caught herself in the mirror hanging above the sink.

"Not like he'd be interested in me even if I didn't hurt him…"

The image before her showed off a depressing sight.

The Uraraka's were not a rich family. They wouldn't be called middle classed.

While they owned a construction company, the changes in technology somehow always managed to outpace them, and with larger and larger companies moving branches into smaller towns, business had rapidly dried up.

While the Uraraka Construction Company had managed to keep some business, they had been forced to complete projects at lower and lower costs each time.

Where most companies would cut corners to make up for the drop in revenue, the Uraraka's prided themselves on the quality of their work. This meant that they did not skimp out on material or quality of the installation.

…However it meant that an ever decreasing amount of money could be put towards their employees.

Ochako's parents tried to offset this by putting more of their earnings towards the people loyal enough to stay on with them. This, however, meant that her family earned barely enough to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.

…and considering how many jobs slipped through their fingers, even a few meals had to be skipped. Desserts had to be left for more special occasions like birthdays or holidays.

This upbringing had engendered a level of frugalness that very few her age had. Every bit of allowance her parents could afford to give her, any bit of money gifted to her for her birthday, all of it was put aside for saving or emergencies.

After a while of very minimalistic lunches, her friends seemed to catch on and started to offer some of their own lunches for her to have. She knew they were being kind, just wanting to help out, but a part of her rankled at the offerings.

Like she needed handouts.

…It was quite unfortunate that she had such a voracious sweet tooth.

While she stored most of her money away, refusing to spend any of it to even replace worn out clothing or her aging phone or laptop, she always budgeted some to get a treat now and then. She always told herself that it was a reward for being so good with her finances.

She just wished her friends hadn't found out.

A couple of her friends had caught her buying mochi from a small sweets shop on the way home from school one day, and from that moment on they leveraged her love for all things sweet against her hatred of free food.

From school lunches that provided pudding, to cupcakes made in Home Economics classes, her friends kept convincing her to take food from them.

While it was nice of them, all the sugary foods outweighed the amount of healthier food her and her family were able to eat. The consequence of all this generosity led to her current predicament.

As Ochako stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, a hand reached up to rub her stomach unconsciously.

Where her fellow female classmates had slim or even fit bodies, her own was soft. Her belly had a pronounced paunch that she was able to easily grab in her hand.

As she removed her last two garments, she took in the features usually hidden. While her boobs and ass weren't small, they weren't as firm or perky as the rest of her class.

Her hands reached up, lifting her breasts as she examined them, a lump forming in her throat as she took in the inverted nipples, watching them drop as she pulled her hands away.

"I'm disgusting…"

She forced her eyes away from the mirror when she felt the room had become noticeably warm, her mind about as foggy as the steam pouring out from the running shower.

Stepping under the stream, she let the hot water wash away her tears, scrubbing the soap into her form a little harder than necessary.

After drying herself, she wrapped herself in her fluffiest bear-themed pajama onesie, pulling the hood adorned with the animal's ears over her head.

She shuffled slowly to her bed, pulling the mittens she usually wore to bed to prevent herself from floating away in her sleep. As Ochako fell into her bed, she wrapped herself tightly in her blanket.

Even as the tears lulled her into a fitful slumber, some of her trembling eased as the image of the green-haired man encouraging her before their entrance exam followed her into unconsciousness, his kind smile causing a pleasant warmth to grow in her belly.

Ochako slowly woke from a wonderful dream about fluffy doggies with a jaw cracking yawn as her phone's alarm went off. She slowly eased herself out of her bed to perform her regular morning activities.

She stumbled out of the elevator, still attempting to rub the sleep out of her eyes with the palms of her hands. She shuffled to the kitchen, intending to grab a quick snack before class, only to find most of the class huddled around the dining table, attacking what looked like plate after plate of assorted breakfast foods.

Eggs, bacon, pancakes and more lined the center of a table long enough to sit 20 people.

Ochako blinked in confusion. She was certain that the University didn't cook food for students at the dorms, so it made no sense for there to be this much food.

"Who made all this? The amount of time it took to make so much food… they must have been up really early to cook it all."

Ochako was snapped out of her confusion when Mina, mouth absolutely stuffed with food, called out to her.

"Uraraga! Get ober here, you have to try thish!" The pink woman was waving a hand frantically, her other shoving even more food into her already full mouth.

"Ash- I mean, Mina! It is very rude to eat with your mouth full. Please be sure to swallow your food so that you do not choke!"

"Yeees, Yaomomo!" Thoroughly chided, Mina proceeded to load her plate with more food, before slipping an entire strip of bacon past her lips.

Yaoyorozu sighed, taking a bite from the insanely tall mountain of food towering from her own plate. Being sure to swallow her food carefully, she looked to Ochako.

"Her eating habits aside, this food is actually quite good."

Ochako stepped closer to the table, her eyes drawn to the ridiculous array of food set out before her as the raven-haired woman spoke.

"I dare say, if he wasn't looking to become a hero, Midoriya would have a highly profitable career as a professional culinary chef."

Ochako's eyes widened at the revelation.

"Midoriya made all this?" The barest whisper of the question escaped past her lips.

"I don't know about all that, Yaoyorozu."

Ochako jumped in surprise at the voice coming from directly behind her with a quiet "EEP".

She spun around to see Midoriya walking to the table with a platter of freshly made waffles in one hand, a gravy boat of what smelled like the syrup in the other.

Ochako would have groaned in delight at the sugary scent if she wasn't still recovering from the embarrassing sound she had made.

She took an extra moment to get herself together as the man spoke.

"I wouldn't compare myself to professionals, I just picked up a few tricks when I helped my mom cook. Besides, it's not like I did this all by myself, Sato helped me out with it."

The large man scoffed at the words.

"By the time I came down here, you were already almost done making all this. The most I did was set up the table. This was all you, man."

Ochako caught a blush spreading across Midoriya's cheeks as he set down the latest batch of food, several sets of hands snatching at the platter as soon as he let go.

"It's no big deal. I know I kind of ran away last night after bringing everyone's moods down, so I figured I would cook come breakfast after my morning run as a kind of apology."

"Nothing to apologize for, Midoribro!" Kirishima called out from partway down the table. "Everyone's goes through some bad stuff, there's no shame in that."

The red-haired man had a shark-toothed grin as he grabbed a bunch of meats of various kinds.

"That said, I'm not going to turn down a free meal. This stuff is amazing!"

A round of similar praise streaming from everyone else at the table had Midoriya scratching the back of his head sheepishly, clearly fighting his spreading blush.

Ochako's brows furrowed as she looked back over the food. Something about what Midoriya said bothered her. She looked back at the man, just now noticing a slight darkening of the skin under his eyes.

"You said you made all this "after your morning run." Just how early did you get up? Making all of this must have taken a long time."

Her eyes narrowed as the man coughed into a fist, his eyes darting around the room, clearly unwilling to answer.

"Too damn early, if you ask me." Himiko groused. She was slowly chewing at a stack of pancakes stacked so high Ochako worried they would collapse at any second.

"Come on Himiko, ribbit. He asked us last night if it would be ok for him to get up early, and you said yes." Tsuyu said from next to the blonde woman. She was eating eggs sprinkled with black dots of some kind.

"What are those? They look a little too big to be some kind of pepper flakes."

Himiko threw her hands up like the very worldbetrayed her.

"That was sleepy me who agreed to that, Tsu! You both know that you can't listen to sleepy me. Only morning me can't consent to something like that!"

"You seemed ok after he left once you curled up to me, ribbit. Am I not enough?"

"I- wha-you!" Himiko sputtered. "That's unfair and you know it! He is the perfect level of fluff and warmth, don't even try to deny it. So don't act like you were ok with him leaving!"

"I wasn't, ribbit, but thankfully there was someone else there to keep me warm. You are a very cozy big spoon." Tsu said smugly.

The blonde woman seemed at a loss for words, her jaw flapping like she intended for some sort of retort, only to close it. Her cheeks flushed as she dug into her mountain of pancakes.

Even as the woman continued to eat, Ochako noticed that a smile widened as her blush burned further.

As her eyes turned to a furiously blushing Midoriya, a glass of orange juice being slammed into the table drew most everyone's eyes.

"Apologies, but it sounded like you just said the three of you slept together last night?" Iida had a graveness to his tone, almost as if he had just listened to a murder confession.

His eyes were hard as he stood from the table. He raised an arm up, preparing to drop it into a chopping motion that would-

"Oh yeah, we sleep in a big cuddle every night the three of us are together. He's just the coziest. I especially love it when he lets me ride him at night~"

Iida's arm froze, his entire body going stiff at Himiko's words, and what they implied. Ochako could have sworn she saw his glasses crack.

Izuku, his face blazing, waved his arms back and forth.

"H-Himiko, you can't just word it like that!" His eyes turned to his seated classmates, several of them also blushing. "She meant that she lays on my back in my wolf form, nothing else. W-we're not like that, we're just friends!"

Ochako had brought her hands up to cover the rapidly spreading blush, peeking her eyes between her open fingers. She turned her head when she heard an annoyed ribbit escape Tsuyu.

Whether she was annoyed at Himiko's antics or Izuku's admission of them being "just friends", Ochako couldn't tell.

It took Midoriya several minutes to convince everyone that nothing was going on, explaining that Tsuyu and Himiko just liked to sleep while laying against him. According to them, his fur was more comfortable than any bed they'd ever slept on.

Ochako was self-aware enough to admit that was incredibly jealous.

Conversation returned to normal after that, mainly discussions of what todays classes would look like, and some of their workout routines.

As she bit into a stack of pancakes lathered in maple syrup, Ochako couldn't keep a loud groan of delight from escaping her. As those around her chuckled, she tried to bury her blush by eating more of the delicious breakfast cakes.

Midoriya had a proud smile on his face, happy that another person enjoyed his cooking.

Ochako shoved more pancakes into her mouth, intending to bury the butterflies making a mess of her stomach in the fluffy delights.

The classroom was abuzz with chatter as they waited for their Foundational Heroics teacher to arrive, discussing who it could possibly be.

Ochako found it odd that what was rabidly becoming known to the class as "The Wolf Pack", were being oddly silent. She didn't know too much about them, but it had been abundantly clear that at least Midoriya was a hero fanboy, so it was odd that him and his two best friends weren't saying much at all.

"They don't already know who the teacher is, do they?"

Ochako's thoughts quickly changed directions as a thudding pattern was heard, getting louder as it got closer to their classroom.

Before anyone could get out of their seats to check what was causing the noise, the door swung open and-

"I AM HERE! WALKING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

All Might swung around the door frame, one hand holding it as he leaned to the side at roughly a 45 degree angle. He had his other hand raised near his head; two fingers raised in a V pointed towards one of his eyes.

Ochako would have laughed at the goofy pose if she wasn't so stunned that All Might of all people had shown up to their class.

"Holy crap, is that All Might?!"

"SO MANLY!"

"Is he wearing his Silver Age costume, ribbit?"

"Is freaking All Might our teacher?!"

Several of her fellow students couldn't help but burst out at his arrival.

The large man laughed as he stepped up to the podium at the front of class.

"As you are all no doubt aware, I am All Might, and I AM HERE! As your Foundational Heroics teacher!"

He gave the class a moment to settle down before continuing.

"We don't have all day, so how about we get right into it! I'm sure you're all wondering what we will be doing for our first class! We will be starting with…" All Might paused, likely for a bit of dramatic effect, as he reached under the podium and pulled out a sign with "Battle" written in large text. "Battle trials!"

Several people in the classroom cheered. While most simply raised their arms in the air or stood from their desks in excitement, Bakugou's grin sent a shiver down her spine. Something in her just knew that it promised pain for whoever he got the chance to fight.

"Please don't make me fight him…"

One question was loud enough to cut through the shouts.

"Isn't it a little early to have us fighting? Most of us probably haven't even been trained." Hagakure had her invisible hand raised as she asked the question.

"I'm glad you asked, Young Hagakure! Yesterday, you got a baseline of how you used your quirks in general, whereas today is see just how you would use them in a fighting scenario. This will allow us to cater the training to help you all improve in classes moving forward!"

All Might walked to a wall to the side of the desk, reaching a hand out to flip a switch.

"But quirks are not the only things we will be testing! For what is a hero, WITHOUT THEIR COSTUME!"

The wall nearby split apart, showing several shelves with what looked like numbered briefcases hanging from them.

"Before the semester started, you all submitted request forms, detailing what you would like in a costume and how it would need to be built to accommodate your quirks. Our support companies have been burning the night time hours away to make sure you all had the best a hero could get!"

All Might walked back to the front of the class, his cape somehow billowing out behind him, even though he wasn't moving fast enough to create a breeze.

"Each case has your corresponding seat numbers written on them, so please grab yours and meet me down at Ground Beta after changing into your costumes. Once there, I will explain the scenario, while I run ahead of you all to finish preparations. Now, watch as a I leave the classroom, LIKE A HERO!"

All Might proceeded to… walk out of the classroom like a normal person.

Ochako had to cover her mouth as giggles escaped her.

"Geez, he is such a dork!"

Her giggles were cut off by a yelp, when almost the entire class jumped up from their seats and gathered around the briefcases, trying to be the first to grab their costumes.

Ochako waited until most of the class had grabbed them, before snatching her own and heading down to the locker rooms to change.

Walking out into the room, Ochako couldn't stop herself from reaching down and tugging at the costume wrapped tightly around her form, its fit being a little too tight for her liking.

…In hindsight just putting "Space" and "Pink" on her costume request form was a little lacking in terms of description.

While she loved the costume's design, the color scheme being ridiculously cute, she didn't like how the thin material fit her body. It did nothing to hide the plushness of her form.

Ochako felt jealous when she caught sight of the rest of her class. From Iida's cool armor that made him look like a knight, to Jiro's punk rock outfit, everyone seemed to fit their costumes so much better than her…

Even Tsu's tight wetsuit fit her better than Ochako's costume did.

She felt her cheeks heat up when she saw Yaoyorozu's barely there red leotard. It left both her legs and arms bare, with a die opening in the front leaving her cleavage and belly exposed for all to see.

As her eyes danced between the rest of her class, Ochako noticed one person was missing.

"Where's Midoriya?" She asked.

"He's testing his suit, to make sure there aren't any weird effects while he uses his quirk, he should be here any second now."

Ochako turned towards the voice, catching sight of Himiko in her costume.

She wore a black sailor uniform that had strips of deep crimson running down its sides, with a similarly dark skirt that had had an accent of red flowing along the rippled edges. Around her neck sat a thick scarf with what looked like teeth detailed onto its front. Hidden by said scarf sat a mouthguard detailed with a similar set of sharp teeth.

Strapped to her back and the sides of her scarf were an assortment of metal tanks with tubes running both to her mouthpiece and some oddly shaped gloves covering her hands.

"Oh? Did you meet him after leaving the changing rooms?" Ochako quirked a brow. They had to leave their phones in the lockers, so it isn't like a he could have messaged her.

"Nope!" Himiko cheerily answered, a self-satisfied smile on her face. "I entered his changing room after everyone else left!"

"W-what?!" Ochako's face rapidly turned red at the implication. "Y-you can't just enter the men's changing room!"

"Don't worry, I made sure he was decent before going in."

"T-that's not the problem!"

Ochako had no idea how to handle Himiko. The blond woman seemed to have no shame when it came to her two friends. Openly admitting to sleeping with a man and entering his changing room with a proud smile on her face.

Ochako was certain that if she stayed around Himiko for too long, her permanent blush marks would somehow grow in size.

"Give her some room, Himi. She's clearly getting flustered."

Ochako was thankful for the interruption. She turned to thank her savior only to freeze as she caught sight of Midoriya standing directly behind her.

He wore a rough-spun sleeveless coat that trailed behind him in the same way a duster might. It was a deep forest green with an inch-wide hem of glowing silver running down and around its edges. It had a hood that he currently wore down, letting free his wild hair.

The way it bared his arms drew attention to the definition in the muscles he clearly went to great efforts to build.

It was normally kept in a wild ponytail, but he currently had his hair flowing free down his back.

His pants were loose, tightening around his ankles, showing his bare feet against the ground.

Across the silver edges were some form of circular runes that Ochako couldn't place the origin of, with a medallion hanging from his neck, baring a single circle with wavy lines branching off at equidistant spots around the circle.

All in all, it gave of a certain tribal vibe that, paired with the animal side of the man she had seen, caused a warm to spread in her-

Ochako recoiled back, an odd grunt escaping her as she tried to reign in her thoughts.

Midoriya's brows scrunched up in concern.

"I-is it really that bad? I mean, I know it's a little out of the ordinary, but I didn't think it was that bad." He lifted the medallion hanging over his chest to examine the drawing. "Maybe I should have worn the one mom made me…"

His final words were mumbled, barely loud enough for Ochako to hear them. She grimaced when she realized what he thought her reaction actually meant.

"Don't even think about it like that, Izu-kins!" Himiko ran up to him, grabbing an arm and rubbing her face against his bicep. "You look so good; I could just drink you dry!"

Ochako watched as a pink appendage shot out, attaching itself to the side of his face opposite Himiko.

"She's right, Zuku. You do look really good like that." Tsuyu walked up; her tongue still stuck to the man's face. "Really feels like you're letting some of your inner wolf out, ribbit."

The green haired man's worry seemed to ebb at her words.

Ochako mentally berated herself for reacting the way she did. How could she let herself think about her classmate like that, and now she gave off such an awful impression of what she thought of his costume.

"Besides, I'm sure Uraraka was just surprised by how good it looks. Isn't that right, ribbit?

Ochako was surprised when attention was brought back to her.

"O-oh, uh. I mean- Y-yes of course it looks good!" She tried to put on a good face, lifting a fist up in a show of comradery. "It really brings out your wild side! It honestly makes me wish I put more effort into my costume request."

Ochako dropped her gaze, a hand once again reaching down to pull at some of the fabric wrapped around her leg.

"Compared to yours, mine is so plain. And it doesn't even fit that well.."

"What are you talking about, your costume is great!"

Ochako's eyes flung upwards, meeting the excited gaze of Midoriya.

"You went for a space theme, right? The colors are done really well, and with those gauntlets and boots you really have the 'space adventurer' look going for you, especially when you take the visor into account. It's reminiscent of an astronaut's helmet without being too bulky or getting the way of your vision. All of it put together really looks really cute on you. Paired with your quirk, I bet you would make an amazing rescue hero, similar to Thirteen! You both really have the space suit aesthetic down! I wonder, do those gauntlets of yours have grappling hooks, or do the boots have little pockets air that would let you-"

Midoriya was cut off when the tongue attached to his face tugged on him slightly.

"Zuku, you're rambling, ribbit."

"A-ah! Sorry Tsu. You know how much I love heroes, and talking about her suit just really got my mind going!"

After a few heartbeats, Midoriya's face rapidly burned as he remembered exactly what he had said.

"I-I'm sorry Uraraka! I didn't mean to say you were cute! Uh, I-I meant to say that if that's what you were going for with your design, then you nailed it. I-I didn't mean anything untoward by it!"

Midoriya's panicked apologies went unheard, as by that time Ochako's head had bumped into the ceiling. Around the time Midoriya had complimented how well her costume looked, she had covered her face in embarrassment. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to keep her pinky lifted as her face burned, so she unwittingly lifted into the air, drifting uncontrollably as Midoriya continued to ramble and apologize.

"H-he thinks my costume is cute!"

Long before she was ready to come back to earth, Ochako felt something wrap around on of her legs, pulling her back to the ground.

She peeked out from between her fingers to find Tsuyu looking at her with a smug look as she brought the brunette down.

She was about to thank the rudely smug frog but was interrupted by a boisterous laugh.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" All Might appeared before the class, his hands on his hips as he roared out in his trademarked laugh. "Some say the costume truly make the Hero, and I must say, they couldn't be more right! You all look splendid in your uniforms!"

Ochako stared at the hero in awe as she returned gravity to herself.

"I'm sure you're all wondering exactly how we will be conducting todays test, yes?!" Before anyone could words a question, he continued. "First, a question! Where do you think villains are most dangerous?"

Several hands went up, but Kaminari spoke up before anyone could be called.

"Outside in the streets? They can cause the most damage with all the innocent people around."

"A fair guess, and not an unreasonable one! However, that is not quite what I was looking for. Would anyone else like to take a guess?"

"At sea?"

"In a neighborhood?"

"When you are near an element that their quirk lets them control?"

Ochako listened as each of her classmates rattled off guesses. She herself struggled to come up with her own guess. Surely villains were dangerous no matter where they were fought, right?

As everyone slowed down in their answers, seemingly running out of guesses, one hand raised up. Ochako blinked as All Might called on Midoriya when he did not immediately voice his guess.

"Did his smile just widen when he called on him?"

"Yes, Young Midoriya?"

"Indoors." His words were as confident as his answer was short.

"Correct!" All Might clapped his hands so loudly that a small burst of air radiated out from the man.  "While many villains can cause widespread damage while outdoors, fighting them indoors is a struggle of its own! From fighting around tight corners, to preventing the very building you fight inside from toppling around you as you subdue them, fighting indoors requires far more forethought than in most scenarios!"

Ochako caught a blush on the young man's face at the Number One hero's praise.

"Whereas fighting in the streets requires a certain finesse to avoid hitting civilians, a falling building requires far more intel. While sometimes you may have enough time to gather surveillance on the other floors, sometimes you must act immediately, lest you risk more lives letting villains enact their plans. This makes using large attacks very difficult. You wouldn't want to destroy the very building you are trying to protect from the villains, now would you?!"

All Might hit a button nearby, turning on several screens mounted on the wall. They all showed the same street, depicting several buildings Ochako guessed were in one of UAs testing sites built to resemble a city block.

"So, for this exam, we will be performing a series of 2 on 2 matches emulating a pair of heroes raiding a villain hideout with little to no information!" 

Several questions were raised, a few stand-outs drawing Ochako's attention.

"Little information? How will we know what is required for us to pass the test?!" Iida asked.

"Will we be getting to decide who we team up with?" Mina asked with excitement, sharing a glance with Kirishima.

"Will there be a risk of expulsion like with Mr. Aizawa?" Kaminari asked while biting his nails nervously.

All Might interrupted all of the question with a raised hand and another boisterous laugh.

"AHAHAHA! All wonderful questions, but it is difficult to answer them all when you speak over each other!" When no further questions came, All Might contiued. "As I stated before, this will involve two heroes raiding a villain hideout. The goal of this exercise is to reach a bomb that the villain team will hide inside of the building. The villains will have five minutes to hide the fake bomb however they wish while remaining within the bounds of the building."

He pressed another button, a screen changing to show what looked like a round, black missile with red circles running up its length.

"Heroes will use those five minutes to plan their entry, and the possible hiding locations of the bomb. The heroes must either touch the bomb the villains are protecting or wrap the villains with the provided capture tape. For the villains, they must either capture the heroes with their own tapes or protect the bomb for fifteen minutes. For the capture to count, you only need wrap one of the opposing team member's limb for it to register."

All might pulled out two boxes and set them on a nearby table.

"To decide the teams, we will be pulling lots to emulate the randomness most heroes experience with a scenario like this. After all, even solo heroes have to team up sometimes, and we don't always get to choose who it is we work with. AHAHAHA!"

This explanation seemed to mollify Iida, who had already raised his hand mid-explanation. What part of the explanation he was prepared to question, Ochako could only guess.

"Now then! Let's begin by having each of you grab a paper out of the box on my left to determine your teams. After which, I will pull lots from the box on my right to determine who you will be facing!"

When the class hesitated to step forward, the man laughed.

"AHAHAHA! No need to be shy everyone, these boxes won't bite!" The large man's eyes took on an eerie glow. "Much."

When even then everyone hesitated, Bakugou stepped forward with a scoff. "Tch. It doesn't matter who I'm paired up with or against, you all won't stand a chance against me!"

"That's the spirit, Young Bakugou! Come, everyone, the sooner you all grab your cards, the sooner we can commence!"

While Ochako watched as the rude man grabbed his card from the box, she couldn't help but notice the oddly focus look he kept giving Midoriya.

Before she could think further on the exchange, the rest of the class barreled forward, looking to grab their team cards as fast as possible.

She was so disoriented by the mad rush that Ochako was the last to grab a paper from the box. She looked down at it, registering the bold letter 'A' printed in the center of it.

She lifted her gaze up from the piece of paper, trying to locate her teammate. As she watched most of her classmates gather into their two-man teams, she began to worry.

"Oh no, please tell me I'll at least be paired up with someone nice. I really need to make a good showing for-"

"Oh, it looks like you and me are teamed up together, Uraraka!"

Ochako was getting very annoyed by how often she was being caught by surprise lately. Normal women certainly didn't make the sort of noises people liked to pretend she made when caught off guard, no sirree.

She was turning to give this person a piece of her mind, only to be met by a familiar green gaze.

When Ochako didn't respond, Midoriya lifted up his slip of paper, showing his own bolded 'A', showing that they would be on the same team.

It took a second for her mind to reboot, but Ochako fought to maintain a level of calm as she responded.

"R-really? That's great! M-maybe now I'll get to pay you back for the entrance exam!"

Before Midoriya could answer, All Might chose that moment to move the class forward.

"I'm glad to see that you've all found your teams so quickly! I will now begin drawing lots to determine which teams will be facing each other!"

Ochako watched with trepidation as the large man continued to pull papers from the box before him.

The longer it took for All Might to draw their team, the more worried she became. She had been keeping an eye on Bakugou ever since she caught him glaring at her teammate.

…And the longer it took for either team to get drawn, the more often the blonde man glanced at her and Midoriya. The more he did it, the more unsettled she felt until-

"Team A VS Team D!"

Ochako felt her stomach do a flip as their teams were called. She could have sworn she saw Midoriya tense up, only for her attention to be drawn once more to their teacher.

"Now that the matchups have been decided, please direct your attention to the screen above me, as I will be displaying them for all to see in the order they will be commenced!"

Above All Might, the teams became clear for all to see.

Team B – Shoto Todoroki & Shoji Mezo vs Team I - Mashirao Ojiro & Tooru Hagakure

Team H – Fumikage Tokoyami & Tsuyu Asui vs Team J - Eijiro Kirishima & Hanta Sero

Team G – Denki Kaminari & Kyoka Jiro vs Team C – Momo Yaoyorozu & Himiko Toga

Team E - Yuuga Aoyama & Mina Ashido vs Team F - Rikido Sato & Koji Kouda

Team A – Izuku Midoriya & Ochako Uraraka vs Team D – Katsuki Bakugou & Tenya Iida

Ochako had a bad feeling about this…