Chapter Text
Izuku was a little surprised at how the time passed with minimal complication once Shinso was settled in living with Yamada and Kayama.
After that first night, Shinso had admitted to him, and by extension Oboro, that Yamada was secretly his favorite teacher so getting taken in by him was kind of a big deal for him.
Izuku had, of course, bought the boy a Put Your Hands Up radio mug as a gift the first time they hung out outside of school. He’d spent an hour chilling on his phone and playing games with Oboro while letting his sphere encompass Shinso’s mother so that the two of them could talk privately.
They’d also decided to start training together a few times to get Shinso ready for the hero course, and if he didn’t get into the hero course then, as Oboro flippantly said- he’d just have to bully Aizawa into recommending him for the provisional license exam and then he’d have to be a hero course student if he passed.
Shinso had turned green at the very thought of such a high-stakes entrance exam into heroics but at least it was an extra option.
Izuku also had to find the time to speak with Momo about the additional training and expectations he was about to curse her with- Oboro had just laughed at his dramatics- since she and whoever else Izuku chose to receive training with his senpais would have to come in second and third place in the license exams, respectively.
In the end, he invited her to a tea house Oboro recommended and met with her the next weekend, forcing Oboro to tag along so that he could help explain it to her.
Momo had taken it about as well as Izuku had.
“Excuse me, what?” Momo blurted, once Izuku had finished his whole spiel. Beside him, Oboro snickered, basking in the warmth of his quirk as Momo stared between both of them.
“It’s a UA tradition where stude-”
“No, no,” Momo interrupted him. “I know about the Diamond of UA, it’s a very old tradition that my father took part in, I’m just- I’m just perplexed as to why you would want me with you.”
Izuku gaped at her insecure look. He couldn’t help but reach over and take her hands tightly, not caring that it could be misconstrued by passers-by. Even Oboro looked surprised at Momo’s words.
“Momo, there’s literally no one else I thought of the moment Togata explained this to me,” he said earnestly. “You were the first person I wanted to have with me in this. I still have no idea who our third will end up being but for now Togata said it was fine if it was just the two of us- if you agree. Please agree, I can’t imagine doing this without you, honestly.”
Momo turned pink, but she couldn’t hide how pleased she was. She let go of Izuku’s hands and wrapped them around her teacup instead, thinking deeply.
“You think I can do this too, Oboro-san?” she asked hesitantly and Oboro smiled at her, displaying his teeth brightly.
“I really, really do, and I’m actually thrilled that it’s you he’s choosing. I’m hoping he doesn’t pick that knockoff Christmas ornament as a third but I promised Shota I wouldn’t interfere so I’m hoping having such a smart second will make him pick his third wisely.” Oboro said all of this very cheerfully and Momo blinked while Izuku rolled his eyes.
“One of these days you’ll have to tell me why you hate Shoto so much, he’s a great friend.” Izuku groused and Oboro just shook his head, looking almost pityingly at him. Momo giggled.
“Very well, I would be honored to become one of UA’s revered jewels with you, Izuku.” She bowed from her waist slightly. “Don’t let me hold you back!”
“You could never!”
So, he and Momo had started supplemental training with the three senpais who had whole-heartedly approved of his choice in Momo. Nejire especially had taken the girl under her wing and even in a few short weeks Izuku could see a real change in her confidence and how she held herself in heroics class.
For the most part, Izuku trained with Amajiki and Togata, finding both senpais to be extremely capable opponents. Oboro watched the spars with great excitement which he later narrated to Aizawa in a lot of detail and gesticulating arms while Aizawa just listened indulgently.
By the time their first term was nearing its end, Izuku was feeling pretty confident about how things were going, in general. About a week before their end of term exams, Izuku was in class with the rest of 1A, listening to them bemoan their futures with some small amusement.
“I’ve barely studied this semester,” Ashido cried, head in her arms, “After everything that happened it kept taking me ages to get into the swing of things.”
“You’re telling me!” Kaminari looked equally, if not more, miserable. His assignments had come back so littered in red ink comments that he hadn’t even managed to lift his head to read through them properly.
Izuku wasn’t doing too bad in his classes. He’d never really struggled much with schoolwork, and his efforts at UA, while harder than high school work, wasn’t really that much harder for him now whereas others in the class were barely scraping by.
“What the hell convinced me I was smart enough to come to freaking UA?” Sero whined, leaning back in his chair so far that Ojiro had to use his tail to push him back up when he fell too far.
“If you want, we could study at my place,” Momo offered. “Izuku and I can tutor you guys, oh, if you have some time Izuku,” he immediately nodded in agreement. “Great! Why don’t we meet tomorrow after school?”
“You are a virtuous angel, Yaoyorozu!” Kirishima cried. He wasn’t struggling in class but even he didn’t seem willing to turn down a study session with the class.
Plans were made and Izuku dutifully cleared his schedule to meet with his class.
Izuku
Hey, can we meet the day after tomorrow instead? My class has a study date planned for the finals ><
It took a second, but his new friend replied fairly fast, despite that they were both in school.
Shinso
No problem
Shinso
You struggling?
Izuku
Not really haha, I’m tutoring, actually
Shinso
Oh damn, what’s your English like because I’m about to make Yamada-san rip his hair out
Shinso
Bald Present Mic is literally about to become a reality
Izuku stifled his laugh and vowed to show the messages to Oboro once he got back from stalking Aizawa to his third year classes.
Izuku
I’m fluent! If you need some help then I’d be more than happy to help out
Izuku
Hey! You should come with us tomorrow to study. My vice-rep, Yaoyorozu, is hosting a few of us at her home and there will definitely be space for you if you wanted to join us
Shinso
Kind of awkward since I don’t know any of your classmates and I badmouthed like two or three of them at the SF
Izuku
Water under the bridge, my dude
Izuku
You want to join 1A, don’t you? Come on, this would be a great time to ingratiate yourself to the whole class. Sneak in through the cracks, yk
Shinso
Wow, I'm almost impressed. I didn’t know you could be sneaky like that, Midoriya
Shinso
You know what sure, why the hell not? Count me in then
Izuku excitedly planned with him before looking up, finding his classmates still in various stages of depression and Kaminari seemed to be going through the five stages of grief after finally mustering the courage to look back over his assignment which he’d clearly failed.
“I invited a friend of mine from 1C to join us tomorrow, is that okay Momo?” He asked, not really thinking she would disagree. “He’s preparing for his finals too, minus the practical heroics, of course.”
“The more the merrier!” Momo cried happily. She seemed right in her element with being able to host their class and seemed genuinely happy to do it. “Who is your friend?”
“Shinso Hitoshi. He won third place in the Sports Festival.” Izuku said cheerfully, his cheer only growing at Bakugou’s suddenly stiff shoulders and the way he was obviously trying to contain a furious snarl.
Izuku pressed his lips together, trying not to show that he was a little amused that Shinso could inspire a reaction like that from the explosive blonde. His friends seemed similarly amused.
“He’s most welcome,” Yaoyorozu said with a grin. “He wants to be a hero, right? He should be training for the finals too, even if he isn’t actually taking part in them. Perhaps we could help him prepare and give him a summary of the exams afterwards?”
“We train a few times a week,” Izuku explained. “We’re hoping he’ll be able to join our class even though we don’t have seats available. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a rule that there can’t be an extra student but we’re not overly sure yet.”
Aizawa was surprisingly tight-lipped about things like this and hadn’t said anything to him even though he’d asked. Oboro’s suggestion that he widen his eyes and pout a bit while he asks had been met with a dark glare from Aizawa and a pillow to the face from a blushing Izuku on one of the nights where Aizawa had driven him home and ended up staying for dinner.
“Oh neat!” Uraraka piped up. “That’s the brainwash boy, yeah?”
Izuku nodded, shifting over to see Ojiro.
“I hope there are no hard feelings. He said some things to all of us but I know that’s not the kind of person he is. His quirk just requires him to provoke a response from you but we’re working on different ways to go about doing that.”
“There are no hard feelings,” Ojiro assured him. “I wasn’t offended by anything he said to me.”
They would have continued chatting but Aizawa finally arrived to get started on their law and ethics class as well as to brief them about the requirements for the final exams.
“Won’t you tell us what we’re doing, sensei?” Ashido begged, actually wringing her hands in a prayer. “We could prepare better then!”
“You’ll find out when you find out,” Aizawa said, not even pretending to look like he wanted to give them any information. Oboro lounged on the desk behind him and grinned at their morose expressions.
“What about your ghost boy?!” Uraraka cried excitedly, whipping around in her seat to face Izuku and smacking her table a few times. His ghost boy in question lifted a brow. “He hangs around invisibly so he would know, right?”
“Well, Oboro? What’ll it be?” Izuku asked gamely, knowing full well that Oboro wouldn’t tell him and Aizawa just rolled his eyes, ducking his face down slightly to his mouth couldn’t be seen beneath his scarves.
“Hmmm, I heard a rumor you’d be fighting the robots from the entrance exams.” He said, his voice too sly to be helpful but Izuku still relayed the information, watching the class look at Aizawa for any shred of truth. Aizawa just stared back at them, looking especially unimpressed while Oboro giggled.
“You’ll find out when you find out,” Aizawa repeated, prompting an honest groan to ring out the room. “Stay put. Your foundational heroics teacher will be here in a minute to take you to Gym Zeta for class.”
With that said, he left, leaving Oboro behind. Oboro floated over to comfortably lean against Izuku’s back.
“I bet it’s robots,” Ashido declared confidently. “He didn’t say anything and he even hid in his scarves so he must be trying to hide the fact that we found out!”
Izuku tried to ignore Oboro’s answering snort of laughter.
Ashido wasn’t the only one who thought that way, though most seemed wiser to the fact that it was a stretch.
“You’re just excited it could be robots because you wouldn’t have to do anything fancy or exciting with your quirks since you’ve already beaten them before.” Shoji pointed out, unimpressed, and both Ashido and Kaminari went red.
“Th-that’s not true-”
“Pathetic!”
Izuku startled slightly at Bakugou’s harsh voice. The blonde was practically vibrating in his chair on the other side of the classroom as he glared at all of them.
Oboro’s hands tightened into fists.
“Hey, don’t be rude, Bakugou, that’s super unmanly-” Kirishima seemed a little awkward about trying to scold Bakugou after having admitted to Izuku that he’d originally wanted to be friends with him but he was pretty brave for still doing it and standing up for his friends.
Bakugou ignored him.
“You should be trying everything you can to improve yourself and your quirks or else you’re just as pathetic as the useless extras in General Education,” he sneered at Izuku, “and you-” Oboro tightened his hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “You’re really starting to piss me off, Deku.”
“Don’t call him that!” Momo gasped, looking outraged.
“Tsk,” Bakugou twisted back in his chair, crossing his arms and saying to the room, “I don’t care what you extras do. These exams are going to prove, finally, how far ahead I am over each and every one of you. I’m going to rip you all to shreds, especially you- Mido~riya.” the way he said Izuku’s name was even more ominous than if he’d just called him Deku and Izuku couldn’t quite help his slight shiver. Oboro felt the little twitch and his expression grew even colder, angrier, as he scowled directly at Bakugou’s head.
“You can sure try, Bakugou,” Shoto scowled at him, the expression breaking through his usually neutral face. “But we all know our Class Rep is leaps ahead of you.”
Izuku blushed at that and noticed Oboro sending Shoto an appraising look at his admirable defense. The rest of the class was quick to jump to his defence but fortunately All Might arrived with his haggle of ghosts to distract them with foundational heroics so Bakugou never had a chance to reply.
“Stupid idiot,” Oboro muttered, stepping ahead and walking through Bakugou a couple of times while Daigoro and Yoichi helped, not even needing an explanation for it, apparently.
❋
“I’m sure you all think you know exactly what’s about to happen here.” Aizawa sounded way too smug for any of the final exam rumors floating through UA to be true. There was no way he’d have that ‘logical ruse’ glint in his eye for a simple fight against robots and Izuku had already been suspicious by seeing almost all of their pro-hero teachers gathered outside with them but now he was really suspicious.
“Robots!” Ashido beamed, pumping her fists excitedly. Oboro practically cackled, hanging onto Yoichi’s arm and excitedly shaking Hayako’s jacket with his other hand. An ecstatic Shiori stood by Midnight even though the heroine couldn’t see her.
You sweet spring child, Izuku thought, staring at a rapidly dimming Ashido, and just in time- as from Aizawa’s scarves a little white creature popped out and Izuku pushed down his excitement at seeing Mr. Principal in person for the first time.
Principal Nezu was an impressive figure despite his stature and species. There was an almost uncomfortable sort of intelligence in his eyes and Izuku- though he’d never say it out loud even if someone paid him a billion yen- thought he looked kind of snazzy in the little suit.
“Am I a mouse? A dog, or a bear? Doesn’t really matter, because most importantly- I’m the principal!” the stout-like creature announced, his voice carrying over them.
“I’m sure you were all very excited to see UA’s top tier robots again, however it’s my delight-” by Aizawa’s sudden grin Izuku could surmise that it really was Nezu’s delight- “to inform you that no longer will we be using robots for these kinds of exams!”
“Due to the recent surge of villain activity, especially involving our current Class 1A, it was decided that we should drastically increase the quality of your training and as such, we decided that the best way to test you would be to see how you’re doing for ourselves!” Nezu beamed. It was an odd sort of smile on his animal face and it sent shivers down their spines.
“Y-you don’t m-m-mean-??!” Kaminari couldn’t even get the words out.
“Right you are Kaminari-kun!” Nezu said enthusiastically. “You will be paired up in pre-selected groups and you’ll face off against your teachers!”
Kaminari slumped against Izuku’s shoulder.
“I’m doomed.”
Izuku patted his shoulder sympathetically.
“Your matchups are all decided. There’s no switching, so don’t even try,” Aizawa’s eyes flashed red, as if to get his point across. “You’ll each have half an hour to either capture or incapacitate your teacher, additionally you will be able to win by escaping your designated areas and seeking a ‘safe’ gate that automatically ends the exam with your win.”
“Aditionally, while we aren’t gonna go easy on you all, all of us are gonna be wearing these neat little super compact weighted bracelets that some crazy little lady from the support course made for her final exams!” Yamada declared, showing off the four silver bands around his wrists and ankles. All the teachers were wearing similar bands. “That will even the odds a little, since we are pro-heroes!”
“Alright, here are your matchups!” Nezu announced, completely ignoring the desolate atmosphere among the majority of their class. Izuku was excited though. Who would he be paired with? Momo? Shoto? Maybe even Iida? He could think up a million plans for each and every one of his classmates, for the most part, and paired with Hayako’s help he wasn’t nervous at all.
He was in the minority for excitement as Nezu revealed their student matchups on a screen. Immediately his good mood plummeted when he found his name and saw who he was matched with. Izuku couldn’t help but send a mildly incredulous, bordering on furious, expression towards Oboro for not warning him.
Aizawa wasn’t spared his wrathful expression either. At this point they had to be close enough to warrant Izuku throttling him a little because- seriously?!
“Heyyy,” the voice was intensely terrified and a little whispery as Izuku turned his distasteful expression downwards. “Looks like we’re p-p-p-partners! Exciting r-r-right?”
Mineta, for the most part, had kept away from the girls after getting chewed out by Izuku at the Sports Festival, but that hadn’t changed him as a person at all and usually they kind of ended up ignoring him since his seat was all the way at the back and even his stature wasn’t exactly screaming for attention.
“Woohoo.” Izuku said dully, turning away. Oboro, who had floated over, doubled over to laugh.
“And the teacher you will be facing!” Nezu looked even more excited as he pressed a button and added names to each row of teams. Izuku once again found his name- devastatingly paired with the short pervert- and he felt the blood drain from his face.
“Are you kidding me?!” He cried, not even trying to hide his shock.
All Might?!
Oboro was bouncing beside him.
“Com’on, Izuuu~” he sang, “You know All Might’s not at his best and besides, you have so much help! Even Dai over there is happy to help out! It’ll be great.”
“There’s no changing your matchups,” Aizawa repeated, though he did send Izuku a brief look, as if he wanted to apologize but obviously couldn’t.
“Damn, dude,” Kaminari patted his shoulder. “I thought I was doomed.”
“DAMMIT! THAT’S NOT FAIR!” Bakugou yelled, his hands popping with little explosions. His expression was thunderous. “I want to fight All Might! Let me do it, I’ll do it alone!”
“There’s no changing your matchups.” Aizawa repeated, coldly, eyes red and glittering as they erased any trace of Bakugou’s explosions. The blonde crossed his arms, stewing in his anger but falling silent under the stern gazes of all their teachers.
Izuku was kind of panicking a little now, but his frenzied wringing hands were stopped with a single, sharp look from Hayako.
“Visible.” He demanded, and Izuku didn’t hesitate to comply, knowing better than to disobey an order like that from his mentor. There were a few shrieks of surprise as Hayako and all the others ghosts became visible under Izuku’s sphere and even a few of the teachers looked startled.
“What are the rules on outside help? He’s not going to get penalized for us helping him, right?” Hayako asked demandingly, scowling at Aizawa and Nezu.
Nezu looked thrilled.
“Of course not! You are, after all, only able to help him because of his quirk, Hayako-san,” Nezu said cheerfully. “Hm, though to make it a bit more of a challenge, I would ask that you restrict yourself to the help of only two ghosts, Midoriya-kun, do you think you can do that?”
Izuku gulped at the sudden attention on him. No pressure, just pick only two ghosts to help fight freaking All Might. As if fighting the Number 1 Hero wasn’t a challenge by itself!
“I-I can try,” he said weakly.
“Then, for the record, who will be your support today?” Nezu asked and now Izuku felt really pressured. He sent a wide-eyed look to Oboro.
As much as he wanted his best friend’s help and quirk, he had to be realistic about which quirks he utilised and he knew Oboro would understand that.
“Hayako-sensei, firstly,” Izuku said determinedly, knowing that Hayako’s quirk was powerful and extremely suited for long-distance attacks. He scanned the other ghosts and Daigoro Banjo, one of All Might’s ghosts, bounced in place and waved his hand excitedly.
“Mememememe! Pick me!” He cried, utterly unconcerned by all the looks being sent at him. All Might looked horrified at the very idea of one of his ghosts being willing to fight him. “I have a GREAT quirk for fighting this lug! Midori, you promised to use my quirk sometimes!”
“I don’t even know what your quirk is, Banjo-san!” He cried, stressed. “I’m not incredible, you know, I have to train with all the quirks I borrow!”
“Seriously?” Momo gaped, “I didn’t realize that, wow, Izuku. You really are incredible!”
Izuku blushed.
Daigoro just shook his head.
“You got anything to be pissed about?” He questioned and, well, sure. The ghost seemed to read the expression on his face perfectly because he grinned, “If you can get pissed off, you can use my quirk, Midori. It ain’t rocket science but it just might be able to smack him around depending on how angry you can get.”
And that, well, that was a really good pitch, actually.
“Alright,” Izuku shrugged. “Hayako-sensei and Banjo-san, then. I’ll do it with just these two ghosts.”
“Excellent!” Nezu beamed. “I look forward to seeing what you thr-” his eyes flickered to the side, to Mineta, and he amended his statement- “What you four come up with!”
Izuku nodded weakly, then let his quirk fall so he could grab Oboro’s hand surreptitiously. As everyone filed out, all of them bemoaning their own matchups but still sending sympathetic looks towards Izuku, he hung back to talk softly to his friend.
“You aren’t mad, right? That I- that I didn’t choose you?” He worried his lower lip and Oboro’s eyes followed the movement of his teeth.
“I’m not mad, Izu, it would take a very dedicated effort from you to make me mad at you, honey.” He said fondly, scratching his hair. “That being said, I can’t watch your fight if I’m not helping you win it.” He looked a little awkward now.
“I might get pissed if All Might hurts you so it would be better if I just hung with Shota for his fight. You… you aren’t mad at me, are you?”
“For thinking you’d get mad at All Might on my behalf?” Izuku smiled. “No, I’m not mad at you. See you after?”
Oboro beamed.
“See you after.” He hugged Izuku tightly and scowled at Daigoro and Hayako over his head. “Take care of him, you hear me? Forfeit if you have to, but take care of him.”
“Sir, yes sir!” Daigoro saluted and Hayako just rolled his eyes. Izuku laughed.
“Go on, I’ve got this-” he suddenly remembered Mineta, who was awkwardly standing a few steps away. “We’ve got this, ugh.”
Oboro snorted.
“I can’t wait for you to lay into Shota about this pairing. I’ll have you know, it was his idea.” Oboro teased and Izuku scowled despite himself.
“Oh it was, was it?”
❋
At training ground B, getting ready for his fight against Bakugo and Todoroki, Shota shuddered, scratched his ear and then sneezed.
Huh. Weird.