Chapter Text
When some people waited for their high school or university acceptance letters, they bit their nails, or wrung their hands, or stuffed their faces with food, or cried for hours on end. In anticipation for his acceptance letter, Bakugo Katsuki did none of those things. In his opinion, his acceptance letter was no more than a formality. He fucking killed it. Those robots were barely even a challenge when faced with his quirk. There was no way that Bakugo Katsuki hadn’t gotten into UA’s hero course.
The thing he was worried most about was Deku.
Katsuki had a long list of words he could use to describe Deku (crybaby, nerd, fanboy, etc.), but a quitter was not one of them. No matter how many people told him that he couldn’t, how many assholes tried to stand in his way, Deku never once gave up on his dream of being a hero.
At least, that’s what Katsuki had thought until the loser said that he wasn’t taking the heroics entrance exam.
“The fuck you mean you’re not taking the entrance exam?” Katsuki had demanded, kicking open Deku’s door.
“Katsuki, please don’t kick our doors!”
“Sorry, Auntie!” he turned back to Deku, eyes narrowed, “What do you mean you aren’t taking the heroics exam?”
Deku sighed, turning away from the open notebook on his desk, “I’ve heard it’s geared towards physical quirks. There’s no way that I can pass.”
“You got your brain and your nerdy analysis thing,” Katsuki said, crossing his arms and standing over Deku.
“Which will only take me so far,” Deku said, “I can’t get in through an entrance exam that favors physical quirks without any support gear, and in order to get support gear, I would have to prove to the principal of UA that the gear is essential for the safety of myself or others while I use my quirk. I’ll just have to try my best to make it into the top three in the sports festival.”
“You better not be giving up, Nerd!” Katsuki shouted, poking Deku in the forehead with what was probably more force than necessary. “ I am going to become the greatest quirked hero that surpasses All Might, and you are going to be the first quirkless hero that surpasses All Might!”
“I’m not giving up, Kacchan!” he exclaimed, rubbing at his forehead.
“Good,” Katsuki said, “because the world is shit and it’s not gonna get any better if you give up. There’s gonna be some other quirkless kid years from now that’s gonna need a hero to look up to, and that’s going to be you!”
Deku stared up at him with big, shiny eyes. Then, in typical Midoriya fashion, he started balling hard enough to cause leakage to other apartments.
“Shit, Auntie he’s Midoriya crying!” Katsuki said, hauling Deku to his feet and dragging him to his bathtub before he could flood his bedroom and ruin all his All Might merch.
“Oh dear,” Auntie said, handing her spawn a box of tissues (which was absolutely ridiculous. You couldn’t stop a flood with a paper towel). “You know, I’ve always felt a bit of pride about the fact that Izuku takes after me, but I can’t help but wish that I hadn’t given him that gene.”
“What are you thinking so hard about, Katsuki?” his old man asked, setting a plate in front of him.
“Deku.”
He frowned, “Did something happen at school again?”
Katsuki could hardly believe that Aldera Middle School was real. It was almost as if someone had taken the conversation Katsuki had with his father all those years ago—the one where Katsuki’s dad detailed what the world Deku would live in might look like because he inherited some recessive genes—and brought every bad aspect of it to life. Lots of people thought that Katsuki had perfect attendance because he cared too much about school to miss it for anything, but in truth, he had perfect attendance because Deku never took a day off, and Katsuki was the only thing keeping bullies from swarming Deku like sharks smelling blood.
The teachers, however, weren’t nearly as terrified of Katsuki as the student boy was. A shame, really. They took every opportunity they could to make digs at Deku, about how he had unrealistic dreams, about how he was less evolved than everyone else, about how it was amazing that he was still alive (the articles Katsuki read about the life expectancy were etched into his mind, like the world’s worst tattoo. How many of those kids would still be alive if they had been in a place like Iceland that treated people well?)
(If Katsuki’s old man hadn’t talked to him that day, hadn’t made sure that Deku would have at least one person on his side, would Midoriya Izuku still be alive?)
It was easier for teachers to get away with stuff than students could because they were adults. Adults naturally trusted the words of other adults over children, especially when the children weren’t close enough to adulthood for grownups to reasonably say that they needed to act like adults.
The worst case of it had probably been when their math teacher had been purposefully marking Deku’s right answers wrong, dropping him to one of the lowest averages in the class. Deku hadn’t even questioned it. He just assumed that he didn’t understand the content as well as he thought he did, that he hadn’t studied enough, that he just needed to do more to catch up when both of Katsuki’s parents, Katsuki, and Auntie Inko knew that Deku could probably be leagues ahead of their class if he really wanted to.
It wasn’t until Deku asked Katsuki to help him review the test to see what he did wrong that they realized the truth.
Their parents had been furious.
While the entire student body feared Katsuki (as they should), the entirety of the staff of Aldera Middle School didn’t know true fear until Bakugo Mitsuki burst into the principal’s office, with so much rage flowing out of her body that even All Might would hesitate to fight her. She yelled at the principal about how he and the teachers of the school had no right to call themselves educators when they tried to stamp out the brilliant light known as Midoriya Izuku, and she threatened them with lawsuit after lawsuit until Deku’s grades were right back to where they should be. Katsuki got a video of the interaction, and he wanted it played at his wedding (or funeral, whichever came first).
Katsuki shook his head, “Unless he’s keeping something from me,” which they all knew he wasn’t because Deku couldn’t lie any better than he could dance, “then everything at school is fine. It’s about the entrance exam.”
“Oh right, Izuku didn’t take the heroics exam, right? He just took the Gen Ed one?”
Katsuki nodded, “I didn’t expect him not to take it.”
His parents shared a look, as if they had some sort of telepathic communication born out of the true love they developed when the Hag fist fought someone for Auntie Inko’s honor. “Well, did Izuku say he was giving up?”
“No.”
“Then, maybe he just didn’t want to try taking the exam,” his dad said, “I mean, you said that you had to fight robots, right? I’m sure he could figure out a way to take a bunch down with only the resources he had around him, but maybe he just didn’t want to risk it.”
“I guess,” Katsuki said, staring down at his food as if it were the reason that Deku hadn’t taken the exam.
His parents shared a look again before his Old Man stood up, “I’ll go check the mail. Your acceptance letter should be coming in sometime soon, so it might be a good idea for us to look.”
The door clicked shut behind his old man, and the old hag turned to Katsuki and punched him in the arm.
“What the fuck was that for, Hag?” Katsuki shouted.
“Would you stop calling me that? Show your mother some respect!” she hollered back, slamming her fist against the table. “Stop moping about Izuku! He’s Inko’s kid for goodness' sake. He’s not giving up on his dreams anytime soon, not unless All Might himself tells him that he can’t be a hero. He’s gonna get to UA, show everyone he has the heart of a hero, and kick ass and take names, okay? So stop worrying and eat the damn food I cooked!”
Katsuki rolled his eyes at her but continued eating. She was right. Katsuki knew she was right. Midoriya Izuku was many things, and stubborn was at the top of the list. He was probably just trying to find a different way—a less robot ridden way—that he could enter to hero course and fulfill his dreams.
It still made Katsuki’s blood boil, though. He’d always imagined that when they became heroes, they would start together in the same class, in the same school, at the same time.
They wouldn’t have that anymore.
The door to the house flew open, and Katsuki’s old man came in, a grin on his face and a letter in hand. “It came!”
Katsuki shot up from his seat, Fucking finally.
***
Fuck the dial tone. Katsuki hated the dial tone. He just wanted to call Deku and tell him that he could boast aboutr ot only being friends with someone in the hero course but being the best friend of the person who scored first in the entrance exam. But instead, he had to deal with the stupid dial tone as he tapped his foot against the floor, waiting for the nerd to pick up the phone.
“Kacchan!” the nerd's voice rang through the phone, “Did you check your letter yet?”
Katsuki smirked, “Yeah, got first place in the entrance exam. Get to start off the year with a bang. What about you, Nerd? Am I gonna be seeing you around the hallways?”
Deku fell silent, and Katsuki froze. “Did you not get in?” Katsuki couldn’t think of a single reason why Midoriya Izuku, who was probably a genius, wouldn’t get into the Gen Ed course. The only reason that would make sense was if he misbubbled one question and then all the ones after that, but UA did checks to make sure that nothing like that happened. How could he have failed?
“That’s the thing, Kacchan,” he said, his voice shaking like a leaf in a storm, “I kinda…got accepted into UA’s hero course?”
All sound faded from the world. There could be a billion things happening, but all Katsuki could hear was his heartbeat. After what was probably a few seconds, but felt like a year, sound returned as Katsuki stood in his room, phone in hand, jaw practically on the floor.
“HAH?”
Notes:
That concludes another chapter of this series!! Thank you guys so much for reading!! It really means a lot to see you interact with my writing! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter <3
Bakugo: *deep in thought about the horrid quirkist society he lives in*
Bakugo, a few minutes later at the dial tone: You are my mortal enemy, and I hope you die in a raging fire in the deepest depths of Hell.
Chapter Text
Aizawa Shouta didn’t believe that God existed.
Because if God existed, Hizashi wouldn’t have been mistreated by his foster parents because of his quirk for thirteen fucking years before he finally got out of that home. If God existed, Shouta wouldn’t have had to save Hitoshi Shinso from a quirkist couple that called himself parents despite putting a muzzle on him when the boy was barely a teenager.
Because if God existed, Oboro wouldn't have been crushed under that building; he would still be living, and breathing, and laughing because God would know that he was one of the kindest souls to ever grace the earth and that the world was a better place because he was in it.
And if God existed, Nedzu wouldn’t be sitting in front of him, telling him that he had chosen a personal student.
So, yeah, God wasn’t real. And if he was real, then he must hate Shouta with a burning passion because what the actual fuck.
“You have a personal student?” Shouta drawled, hoping Nedzu couldn’t hear the way his heart was screaming at the news, “I’ve never heard of you having one of those.”
Nedzu hadn’t taken a protege before, but he had mentioned that he had been searching for one at a board meeting once. Everyone had listened but dismissed his words. They didn’t think that there would be a day where a human that could impress Mr. Principal came around. And even if there was a genius out there somewhere that could impress Nedzu, becoming Nedzu’s personal student seemed like it would be a form of torture, or a violation of human rights. No one actually thought he would take on a personal student.
They were all fools. They should’ve spent time preparing for the apocalypse instead of dismissing the idea entirely. This was an oversight on all of their parts.
Maybe Shouta should mention this to his students as an example on why they should always prepare for the worst.
Nedzu sat there with a grin that made Shouta feel like he should either run for the hills or pledge his loyalty to rodents everywhere. “That’s because I haven’t! I’ve actually set up a test for finding one every year, but no one ever tries to complete it! And if they do they start crying midway through so I have to let them out.”
How the fuck have we not been sued for emotional distress by now? This school is run by Satan.
“...And now…you’ve found one?” Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do they have an analysis quirk like you?”
“Not at all!” Nedzu exclaimed, either ignorant of the distress Shouta was experiencing or reveling in it. Shouta could just image him kicking his feet behind that desk of his. “As a matter of fact, he is quirkless.”
That made Shouta pause. Quirkless people were extremely rare nowadays. He was fairly sure it was a recessive gene, and one of those that were less common. And even if someone were born quirkless (rare as it may be) with the way their society was shaped…they would often end up dying either by suicide or as a victim of a hate crime before they even made it to high school. Of course, Nedzu and some other heroes tried to combat this. Nedzu made it possible for quirkless students to apply to any and all departments in UA, Shouta donated to foundations meant to help victims of quirk discrimination, Hizashi and Nemuri volunteered for similar foundations both in and out of their hero costumes. But as much as they tried, they couldn’t fix their society completely.
There were always going to be awful people, and those people would occasionally cause others to be awful too. And innocent people always suffered because of it.
“How’d you decide on him?” Shouta asked, accepting the fact that the fate of the world as he knew it might be at the mercy of a teenager and a rat that loathed humans. “And why isn’t Vlad here for this?”
Maybe this was a manipulation tactic on Nedzu’s part. Tell the two of them separately so they had to wallow in panic and sorrow alone until they both knew and went out for drinks and complaints. They didn’t do it often but a situation like this would call for a trip to the bar.
“Wel because he will be associating more with your class than Vlad’s! In the beginning at least!” Nedzu said, his paws clasped in front of him, “And if you must know how he applied, it was through an escape room!”
Shouta was no longer understanding the conversation. “...An escape room?”
“Yes! I had an escape room set up on the way to the written heroics exam. There was a whiteboard with an incorrect math problem on it, and when someone stepped in to solve it the door would shut behind them and they would not be able to escape until they either solved all the clues and freed themselves or until I realized they were taking too long to carry the potential to be my student and released them! My student managed to successfully excavate himself in an hour's time, and he even managed to keep a level head when I played the sound of a ticking clock through the speakers to put pressure on him.”
More proof that there was no God. If there was, they would have saved that poor child from Satan’s clutches.
And if, hypothetically speaking, there were a God, then Shouta would need to have some words with them.
“What did he have to do to escape?”
“Nothing all too complicated. He had to decode some messages, solve some mind puzzles, solve some regular puzzles, analyze a situation, analyze a quirk, and break into a safe.”
None of that was particularly challenging. For Shouta. Who was a pro hero. And had been doing stuff like that for years. This student was either fifteen or sixteen, and with the level Nedzu was probably testing at, the average kid that age wouldn’t be able to do any of those. It was no wonder that any other kid that went through such a thing came out weeping. If Shouta put Hitoshi in that room, he’d probably attempt to solve some things before giving up and taking a nap.
Shouta had no idea who this kid was, but he knew one thing: he would either end up fearing this child or liking him. Shouta just hoped Nedzu didn’t corrupt him too much.
“What does this have to do with me exactly?” Shouta asked, “And why does it not have anything to do with Vlad?” If Shouta had to suffer, Vlad should too. Equality or whatever.
From what Nedzu had said when he brought up taking on a protege, his student would interact with all departments of UA, learning at least the basics on how they worked, their contribution to the school (and the world). But the students work closest with the support and hero course because analysts technically fell under the category of support heroes. But that was just the average analyst. They would often either free lance or sign with a specific agency, analyzing fights and quirks of heroes and villains alike. Most analysts fell under this category. But there were still some like Nedzu, who had a hero license like Shouta did and assisted with larger things like raids by helping with information gathering, analyzing, and planning. Regardless of whether his student intended to be a hero like him or an average analyst, they would need experience working with heroes and the support course.
“Ah, yes. I nearly forgot,” Nedzu said, which they both knew was a lie. Nedzu didn’t forget anything. He still held the time that Ectoplasm accidentally broke the copy maker against him. “It seems that my student attended the same junior high as one of your students this year. Normally, I would be worried that we would have a bully-victim situation, but from what I’ve observed they have an amicable relationship and are actually close friends. If my student’s self-confidence is as bad as the average quirkless teenager’s is, I’ll be having him work exclusively with your class so that he’s a little more comfortable before introducing him to Vlad’s students! I just felt I should inform you beforehand.”
Shouta was feeling more tired by the second. “Nedzu, did you stalk our students?”
“I prefer to call it information gathering!” He chirped like the asshole he was.
Shouta sighed, “Well, thank you for letting me know.”
“Of course! And I hope you are as excited to meet my personal student as he will be to meet you!”
Shouta faltered, his head hovering above the handle of the door, “Why would your student be excited to meet me? Did your stalking-”
“Information gathering!”
“Information gathering reveal that we had met before?” It wasn’t unlikely. Shouta had stopped plenty of kids with red shoes from jumping off roofs, and he did his best to remember each one of their faces (the only ones he didn’t recall were the ones that he hadn’t been able to see clearly because it was dark). But Shouta hoped he hadn’t. One: because it meant that this student might have tried taking their own life. And two: because Shouta might start crying if a quirkless student he saved became a hero, and he couldn’t do that. He had a reputation to maintain.
Nedzu grinned, “No, you have not, but I am sure he will be ecstatic about meeting the Eraserhead.”
“...How would he know who I am? I’m an underground hero.”
Nedzu cackled, and not for the first time since becoming a teacher at UA, Shouta wondered if the apocalypse was nye and his boss was going to be the harbinger of armageddon. “Oh, Shouta,” Nedzu said, tears in his beady eyes before he grinned maniacly at Shouta, “I think you are severely underestimating what I consider talent.”
Yup. There was no way God was real. And if they were real, well, it seemed like they hated humans as much as Nedzu did.
“What’s this talent's name?” Shouta drawled, hoping Nedzu couldn’t tell how on edge he was feeling. He probably could, though. The rat could smell fear.
Nedzu lifted his tea cup to his mouth, “Midoriya Izuku.”
Well, Midoriya Izuku, I hope you’re kinder and more benevolent than your new mentor is. Shouta thought, exiting the office and making his way to the break room, because if you’re not, we’re all fucked.
Notes:
Izuku, after wishing Bakugo good luck: huh, that math problem looks wrong! Maybe I should leave a note for whoever’s working on it
Izuku: *walks into room, only for door to slam and lock behind him and a stop watch to start running on a nearby screen*
Izuku: Well this is weird.Midoriya: I can't believe I got locked in a room in UA! Mom and Kacchan are gonna kill me!! T-T
Midoriya, a few seconds later: Ooo a puzzle! :DNedzu, watching Izuku immediately start working on the clues because he thought they were interesting: At long last. The one I have been waiting for has finally emerged.
Nedzu: *plays the sound of a ticking clock to pressure Izuku*
Izuku, who regularly does his homework at the Bakugo’s and has grown used to tuning out background noise because of how often Kacchan and Auntie Mitsuki scream at each other: *locked in on a puzzle*Me, writing emails: I am using an exclamation point to communicate that I am friendly! And happy! And that I do not want to seem intimidating!
Me, writing Nedzu: I am using exclamation points to communicate that he sounds peppy even though he’s unsettling!Thank you all so much for reading (and for your patience with my unpredictable posting schedule)! I love and appreciated any and all reads I get on my works! It really means a lot to know that people enjoy my writing! <3