Ticked Off [Boku No Hero Academia]

6: INTERNSHIP

Late afternoon arrived, and Izuku opened the door to the classroom, intending to walk home with Uraraka after Iida had vanished. All Might skidded down the corridor, coming to a screeching halt in the doorway, doubled over with his fists pressed against his chest and his blue tie fluttering wildly. The girl squeaked in surprise at the man's sudden appearance, staring with wide eyes.

Izuku merely blinked, surveying his mentor and noticing the shaking, coming to a conclusion that brought a faint smirk to his face. "Gran Torino-san?"

A brief look of shock crossed the hero's face before he nodded sheepishly, looking away. "Gran Torino."

The boy patted his muscular shoulder comfortingly, waving goodbye to his friend and heading down the corridor.

*

"Make sure you mind your manners with the heroes at your internships," Aizawa stated with his thousand-yard stare going strong. "Off with you, now. Except Midoriya."

Izuku's classmates stared at him for a moment before going on their way, heading towards the trains they needed to catch. He glanced at his teacher before holding up a finger and bolting after Iida, Uraraka easily falling into step by his side. The class rep stopped, posture pristine.

"If you ever feel hopeless, make sure you let us know," Izuku said softly, eyebrows drawn together with concern. "We'll be there whenever you need us – that's a promise, okay? Because friends always support one another."

Iida's shoulders briefly tensed before he turned around, face set in a scary imitation of a reassuring smile. "Yeah." Without another word, he shifted back towards his train, walking off in silence.

Uraraka and the boy exchanged worried looks before parting ways. He rushed back to his teacher, who raised an impatient eyebrow. The man reached into the piled loops of capture gear over his shoulders, rummaging for a moment before pulling out a sealed envelope and handing it to his student, who took it with a perplexed blink before tearing it open. He skim-read through the contents of the letter, his eyes growing wider by the second. A small rectangle sat in the bottom of the envelope, and he carefully picked it up, handling it like it was a precious artefact.

"A temporary provisional hero license?!" Izuku choked out, his voice high with mingled disbelief and excitement. "Wh-what... I don't..."

"The footage from your fights the other day was reviewed by the board, and while you also needed to show prowess with rescuing, All Might put in a good word, and I mentioned how sufficiently you responded during the USJ incident." Aizawa didn't even react as the boy's eyes welled up with tears at the news. "However, since you're technically underage, it will come with some restrictions. Don't seek out any fights, don't kill anyone, and only pick fights if you're defending someone. Also, don't go flaunting it around, because I'd imagine there would be some severe backlash."

"You vouched for me?" Izuku whispered, still crying uncontrollably.

Aizawa lightly tugged on the boy's scrunched tie, keeping a passive expression on his face. "You have this license so you can occasionally help myself and All Might out with hero work as a way to continue improving your Quirk while supporting the community. We won't involve you in severe fights, because having you die on our watch would be bad PR."

"You vouched for me..." Izuku mumbled again, wiping at his face, only for more tears to fall.

"To keep your identity a secret, we'll have a separate hero costume made for you that you'll receive after your internship," Aizawa continued as if there had been no interruptions. "Since this is temporary, you'll still have to take the exam later in your academic career to get an actual license, which will replace this one. Depending on how things go, we'll start taking you on higher level patrols against bigger villains – you were a Pro Hero, right? What rank were you?"