Work Text:
It’s a normal day in class 3-A, just like every day seems to be in Yuuei, which means that Shouta Aizawa is as exasperated and exhausted as always as he walks into the classroom, slamming down a pile of papers well over a foot tall.
“You’re making my back break,” Aizawa mutters. “I’m not old enough to be facing this soreness so soon.”
There’s a flash of color, and then a sheepish but sure Momo Yaoyorozu standing up, handing her teacher a heating pack before returning to her desk. Aizawa looks at the pack, sighs, and sets it to the side.
“Anyways,” Aizawa continues, as if the interruption never occurred in the first place, “here’s your offers from this year’s Sports Festival. Why they still feel the need to follow this tradition when you hellspawn already have plenty of options, and working emails , I’ll never know, but you can deal with these stacks if I had to handle all of them at once.”
And then Aizawa is handing them out, still speaking as he goes. “Your paperwork must be in by Friday of this week, just like always. You can go with your current mentors if you want, since they probably gave you an offer for tradition’s sake. If they didn’t, make sure they want to continue or renew your contracts for more time before telling me- I’m not handling a lawsuit for you, and Nedzu drives me insane when he does too much. Just do things correctly, do things legally, and pick your mentor for anything but a way to get revenge.”
Aizawa slams down the final stack of papers on Izuku Midoriya’s desk, giving the boy a half-hearted glare over the abnormally large stack the boy now owns. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
Somehow, the last one feels personal to a certain green-haired student.
How rude.
(The day continues on.)
—
No one makes a decision about their work-study until the end of the day…well, okay, that’s a lie, and Izuku can admit it. Most of his peers haven’t made a decision yet, but Izuku knows there are a few who are sticking with their mentors, practically signed to their respective agencies in all but legalities.
Eijirou is once again signing with Fat Gum’s agency, having stuck with the BMI Hero since he earned his Provisional License. Fumikage branched out to work under some different heroes during the latter half of their second year, when Hawks was too busy to be a proper mentor, but now he’s back under the Number Two Hero’s wing. Ochako has decided to go back to Gunhead, and Tsuyu wishes to work under Ryukyu.
No one else is certain on where they plan to go, not yet.
And Izuku?
Well…Izuku isn’t the best when it comes to deciding who he wants to work with. Honestly, it was almost a blessing in disguise, that Gran Torino had been his only offer after his first Sports Festival. Izuku still remembers the hours he spent picking mentors last year- and now the list has only grown .
“I don’t know what to do,” Izuku groans, and Ochako snorts beside him.
“I’m sure you’ve still got your mass analysis from last year!” Ochako teases, and Izuku huffs.
“It’s a year outdated by now! People change, and heroes aren’t the exception! I’d have to completely redo the entire packet…and add a new section for the new offers.”
“Do you even have the time to do all of that?” Tsuyu asks, and Izuku sighs.
“Only if I stay up all night for the rest of the week…hey, Hitoshi?”
“No,” Hitoshi interrupts. “Absolutely not.”
“But-”
“Never,” Hitoshi cuts in again. “You are not touching my coffee stash. No. My mom got me that for my birthday, and I am savoring it.”
“What about-”
“If you’re about to ask for my energy drinks, back off. Aizawa will have my head if I let you have more caffeine- you remember last time.”
Izuku does. So does everyone else, if the knowing looks they offer him says anything.
(Which is so rude. Izuku only broke, what…one table? And maybe he was latched to the ceiling for half of that, but he cleaned those footprints off when he was finally back to normal! Really, they’re just jealous that caffeine works so well on him.)
“Well, there goes that,” Izuku murmurs, and Shouto, the sweet boyfriend that he is, leans closer and asks, “Would you like me to help you go through your options? I’m sure you’ve already narrowed down the list some- I saw you looking at it during break.”
Ochako pretends to gag. Izuku loves his partner.
“Please!” Izuku begs, already rifling through his bag and pulling out his stack of papers. “I highlighted a few names, but there’s so many pros and cons and it’s just so much !”
“Let’s get started, then, before we’re here all night,” Ochako encourages, and so Izuku begins. He flips through the packet until he finds the first name that he’s highlighted, going over the pros and cons that pop up in his head, and weighing the thoughts of his peers and writing them down. They run through multiple heroes, Izuku getting more and more excited as he continues.
“I’m just saying,” Izuku stresses, “while Wash isn’t the most powerful hero, he’s really good at appealing to the masses!”
“He wears a washing machine as a costume,” Tsuyu says bluntly. “I think Mineta had a better design, kero .”
“Agree to disagree,” Izuku declares, and then continues on, “but okay, fair point. The next option is Vlad King, but I think that may be due to Neito’s insistence- he’s been talking about how their teacher is superior, which, as long as we’re not talking about his acting I’ll let him go on if he pleases, even though I’m partial to dadzawa…but Vlad King is really cool! His Quirk isn’t the typical ‘heroic’ Quirk, working with blood and all, but it’s really neat and his ability to keep to his limits is admirable. Huh, maybe he would have been a good mentor during my first year…”
“Or Miruko!” Izuku interrupts himself. “She’s really independent, so the fact that she offered me an internship…it’s incredible! She’s a high-ranked hero and she’s so efficient that even Aizawa respects her work ethic.”
“Aizawa chose you as his son the moment he realized you were a chaos gremlin,” Hitoshi points out, and Izuku pouts.
“You’re just jealous that I get a cooler dad than you do.”
“I-” Hitoshi cuts himself off, then shakes his head. “My dad is sane, that’s why he isn’t a hero. Besides, at least he doesn’t inch around in a sleeping bag like a caterpillar!”
“Didn’t you just say that Eraserhead is your favorite hero two days ago, kero ?” Tsuyu points out bluntly, reminding Izuku that she’s one of the best people to be in his life. What an ally. Hitoshi scoffs, but doesn’t refute the notion.
“Okay, so Miruko is a maybe ,” Shouto says, perfectly getting them back on track, and Izuku nods. “Who else?”
“Good question!” Izuku says, happily flipping to the next page, where another few names are highlighted. “Next up is-”
“What’s going on here?” Eijirou asks as he walks into the room, and Izuku smiles.
“We’re trying to figure out who I’m interning with next!” Izuku explains, and Eijirou nods seriously.
“Need an extra pair of eyes?” Eijirou offers, always so helpful, and Izuku nods.
“Sure! Want to see what we’re working with?” Izuku responds, and Eijirou agrees, taking the packet and flipping through it.
Only to gasp in excitement two seconds later.
“You’re considering Fat Gum?” Eijirou asks, excited. “Come on, you should join me! Yaomomo ditched the agency this time around!”
“She did?” Tsuyu asks, glancing in Momo’s direction. “Can I ask why?”
“Oh!” Momo blushes at the sudden attention. “It’s nothing negative, I can assure you! I do plan to return to him later in the year, but Snipe actually offered me an internship this time, rather than the mere after-school lessons we had during second year, and I’d love to focus on more weapons training. The Sports Festival truly inspired me, I must say.”
Izuku grins. “That’s wonderful, Momo! You’ll have to give me some pointers!”
“Of course!” Momo agrees. “We can discuss it after our internships?”
“Perfect!” Izuku says, then looks up. His friends are awfully pale…how cute.
“Why is Rock Lock highlighted?” Ochako asks. “He wasn’t that high on the list, and wasn’t he kind of…dismissive, during the Raid?”
“He was,” Izuku acknowledges. “But he was doing it because he was afraid to see us hurt. It was rude, but he admitted that he was wrong to think we needed to be forced out of the raid. He’s a really cool hero, though, and his Quirk is so interesting. He has a tendency to play support and stick to the sidelines, and I’ve yet to mentor under someone with such a unique focus.”
“Wow…” Hitoshi gets out. “I don’t think I’ve heard a tangent quite like that since someone tried brushing off your dear Dadzawa as a hobo.”
“Indeed, it seems that you’ve already invested yourself into this choice!” Tenya observes, and Izuku hums.
Maybe he has. After all, this is a new perspective- and is Izuku really living up to his potential if he doesn’t try all that he can?
No. That’s simply not the Plus Ultra way.
“I’m going to sign on with Rock Lock!” Izuku says. “The other options are cool, but Rock Lock has never offered me an internship before- I’m not sure what changed…maybe he’s got more time on his hands?”
“That was easier than expected, kero ,” Tsuyu teases, and Izuku laughs.
“You’re going with Rock Lock?” A voice calls out, and Izuku turns to see Denki standing in the doorway. “Dude, me too!”
Izuku beams. It seems he’ll have some company- how exciting!
—
“Hey, boss,” a voice calls out, and they turn. “You've got mail, it seems.”
So they do. How curious.
How intriguing .
They thank the speaker, and the person leaves. They’re alone again, just them and the letter.
They open it up, read its contents.
They smile.
(The world pivots.)