Freeze Frame

Chapter 72

Third person pov

"Endeavor wants me to intern with him?" Todoroki snorted, tossing the piece of paper over his shoulder like the piece of trash it was. The three hero course students were carefully going through their stacks of internships as they tried to figure out who to go with. They put away any common ones they had in case they wanted to go together, but they doubted it. This was all about learning to be a hero themselves, and they all wanted to develop some form of independence. 

Lillian was really nervous. She wanted to find someone who could help her with her confidence. She'd asked Amajiki, and he'd suggested Fatgum. Someone who was easy going and laid back, and pushed just the right amount. She had put his request for her aside as her default backup if she couldn't find anything. She didn't want to interrupt Tamaki, but it was good to have a back up.

Hitoshi had rushed off somewhere with his mother, claiming he'd be back as soon as he could. Erasercat was holding down the fort until then, sitting on Hitoshi's bed and licking his paws patiently. The three had been sad to see their purple-haired friend go, but knew he'd be coming around in another half hour or so. He refused to tell them where he was off to. They knew they'd find out later. They'd force it out of him if they had to. 

"H-He asked me too." Lillian snorted, glancing at the crumbled up request from the flaming shit bag. On the side, she was getting texts from Bakugo who seemed pretty stressed over his offers. She couldn't blame him; she was too. They'd both gotten a lot in common; a lot of the heroes in the top ten list seemed interested in their quirks. It was the same for Todoroki. However, Bakugo seemed to have lost some faith in the higher up heroes and was freaking out just a tad. And so started the frantic bout of messages between them as they exchanged information and sent photos of the forms.

"Did anyone else get five from Hawks?" Neito raised a brow, looking at the messy handwriting. The reason he'd wanted Neito to intern with him was that the blonde 'seemed like a really cool dude and it would be fun.' Hawks was the Number Three hero, but also the youngest in the top ten. Lillian held up her stack of Hawks papers, and Neito squinted. They seemed to have the same reasoning as well. 

"He came to Japan not long ago, didn't he?" Shoto asked, blinking. Best Jeanist wanted him, but he wasn't a fan of denim. He'd put it in the maybe pile just in case. Ever since moving here to Hitoshi's house, though it hadn't been that long, he'd felt freer. It was barely even his first day here and he already felt so much better. Like he'd been here his whole life, and his dad wasn't a total asshole. His dad was also asking why he hadn't accepted his offer already, clearly pissed he hadn't gotten the notification of his acceptance.

"Y-Yeah." Lillian nodded. "He wants me to join because I 'seem like a promising chick.'" 

"Ah, so he's a genius. I see." Neito winked at her, and she snorted at him, shaking her head. Shoto felt himself smile a little at that. That's what friends did. They made jokes, and teased each other, and complimented one another. He felt he liked having friends, even if he wasn't super sure of how to deal with them. After all, he'd been tutored at home before UA.

"Ah, I got a Hawks too." Shoto blinked. 

"You should go with him and help him advance to the Number Two spot." Lillian joked, squinting as she tried to read the handwriting on... who even was this? Not someone she'd ever heard of. Neito eyed Shoto was a certain sort of expression dawned on his face. The blonde tried not to burst into a hysterical fit of laughter for fear of deterring the half-and-half boy. Because he was actually taking Lillian's suggestion seriously, and that was something he wanted to see.

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Bakugo wasn't having a panic attack, but it was close. Endeavor was a royal asshole who'd shattered his faith in the hero world. How many pros could he trust? The higher up ones seemed like they'd be easily corrupt. Hungry for power and media attention, he notice they often times showed off for the camera when their main concern should be the safety and well-being of people around them. If being number one meant he had to be flashy just for the cameras rather than focusing on the issue at hand, he wasn't sure he wanted the title.