Ticked Off [Boku No Hero Academia]

6: INTERNSHIP

The boy shook himself out of his daze, humming thoughtfully. "Last time I checked, I was about tenth."

"So, you are experienced. That's good; I didn't want to babysit you." Aizawa said, and it would've seemed mischievous if he was capable of outwardly expressing his emotions.

"I beat you, sensei," Izuku reminded the teacher, faking a glare.

"You beat an injured man, well done," he deadpanned, reaching out to gently shove at the kid's shoulder. "Go on, leave, before you miss your train – I'm not driving you."

*

The building was run-down, with grey paint peeling away to reveal red brick walls, and black bars over all the windows. Izuku came to a halt in front of the cracked steps, staring up at the broken neon welcome sign that hung crookedly above the wooden doors. He shoved the note with directions on it into his pocket, placed the suitcase with his hero costume on the ground, and then swung his yellow backpack over one shoulder to unzip it and look inside. His hand clasped around something cool and smooth, and he withdrew it with an unexpectedly wicked grin.

It was a small pouch of fake blood. Izuku parted his jaws and tucked it against his cheek, getting used to the feeling as he picked up his belongings once more before knocking on one door and cautiously pushing it open.

"I'm here from UA High. My name is Midoriya Izuku... Nice to meet yo-" He trailed off with a faint squeak, morphing his expression into one of forced terror.

There was a small body on the floor, clad in yellow and lying in a pool of red. Some sausages trailed out from underneath his sprawled form like intestines and the shattered remains of a pale plate were scattered on the black-and-white tiles.

"He's dead!" He exclaimed loudly, struggling to keep a straight face.

Torino lifted his head with a vacant smile. "I'm alive!"

He screeched again, "he's alive!"

The elderly hero got to his feet, standing on trembling legs with one gloved hand resting on a wooden cane. "Man... When I was carrying a string of sausages with ketchup poured over them, I fell!"

Izuku bit down on the pouch in his mouth, standing frozen, as if completely catatonic from shock. He made a faint choking noise, causing some of the fake blood to spill over his lips and trickle down his chin. Torino looked up, and his eyes widened comically behind his black mask, all pretences forgotten as he dropped the cane and stepped forwards, raising his hands in a nervous attempt to help.

"Hey, whoa, kid, what-"

The student raised his head, a cheeky, bloodstained grin on his face as he spat out the pouch. "Gotcha."

Torino didn't miss a beat, swiping up his cane and slamming it into the side of the boy's leg. "Did Toshinori ruin the surprise?"

"No," Izuku snickered through the stinging pain, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping away the rest of the blood.

"So, you just have packets of fake blood in your mouth, waiting to scare an unsuspecting old man?!" He huffed, opening up the boy's suitcase to rifle through the outfit. "Toshinori told me you were special, but after watching you in the Sports Festival, I think he's gone mad. Fire off a One for All at me. This is a good costume... Wear it, and fire!"

Izuku pulled on version beta of his hero costume. The jumpsuit was a darker green with charcoal-grey stripes framing his arms and torso. There were supportive braces over his legs and elbows and the face mask had been altered, now made of a grey metal, but he let it rest around his neck instead of putting it on. He shifted into a fighting stance, eyeing the old man and mumbling his doubts about the ethics of the practice.